Yemeni Houthis Deny Involvement in Missile Attacks on US Warships

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The first attack against the US guided-missile destroyer Mason and the amphibious warship Ponce from Yemen took place on Sunday. On Wednesday, US media reported that Mason came under a second missile attack and had to use countermeasures to defend itself. According to the US Department of Defense spokesman, the attacks were carried out from a Houthi-controlled area of the country.

"These allegations are unfounded and the army as well popular forces have nothing to do with this action. The U.S. allegations just came in the context of creating false justifications to pave the way for Saudi-led coalition to escalate their aggression attacks against Yemen and to cover for crimes continually committed by the aggression coalition against the Yemeni people," the official told Yemeni News Agency Saba.

On Thursday, the US military struck three radar sites in Houthi-controlled territory on Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels, the country’s main opposition force. Since March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf countries has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request despite a ceasefire agreed shortly before.