Wednesday, October 12, 2016

US threatens retaliation for attack on US warships off Yemen

US threatens retaliation for attack on US warships off Yemen: The United States threatened Tuesday to retaliate for a missile attack that missed a pair of US warships in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.

"Counterstrike, retaliatory strike: I can tell you that those things are things that we are looking at," said Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Defense Department spokesman.

The US Navy has said the missiles, which fell short of the USS Mason, a destroyer, and the USS Ponce, an amphibious warfare ship, were fired within an hour of each other on Sunday from territory in Yemen controlled by Huthi rebels.

"We want very much to get to the bottom of what happened," said Davis. "We're going to find out who did this and we will take action accordingly."

"We will make sure that anybody who interferes with freedom of navigation and puts US Navy ship at risk understands they do so at their own peril," he said.