ESCALATION

U.S. Navy Choppers Take Out 3 Houthi Boats in Firefight

The military helicopters came under fire while responding to a distress call.

U.S. military helicopters responding to a distress call sank three Houthi boats in the Red Sea after coming under fire Sunday morning, the Pentagon said.

The Iran-backed, Yemen-based fighters were attacking a commercial vessel, the Maersk Hangzhou, for the second time in 24 hours when Navy choppers responded.

“In the process of issuing verbal calls to the small boats, the small boats fired upon the U.S. helicopters with crew-served weapons and small arms,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

“The U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense, sinking three of the four small boats, and killing the crews.”

Houthi militants have been attacking ships in the Red Sea since the Oct. 7 Israel-Hamas war began, but this was the first time they fired on U.S. military aircraft.

On Saturday night, the Maersk Hangzhou was hit by a missile and asked for help. The USS Gravely and the USS Labon responded, and the Gravely shot down two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, Central Command said.

The Hangzhou continued on until the morning, when Houthis in speedboats came alongside, firing at it and trying to board. Maersk is now halting all its shipping in the area for 48 hours.