Houthis say attacked US aircraft carrier in Red Sea, shot down US fighter jet

The Houthis from Yemen's rebel Ansar Allah movement attacked the US USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, shooting down an F/A-18 fighter jet, the movement’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said.

"Our armed forces managed to prevent a US and UK attack on our country by means of attacking the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group and several destroyers that escorted it concurrently with the launch of an aggressive attack on our country yesterday evening," he told the Houthi-controlled Al Masirah television channel.

According to the Houthi spokesman, the strike on US vessels was delivered with the use of "eight cruise missiles and 17 drones." The operation, in his words, resulted in the downing of an F-18 plane when US destroyers were trying to repel the Houthi attack.

During the Houthi attack, "most of the enemy warplanes left the Yemeni airspace" to defend the aircraft carrier in the international waters of the Red Sea, Sarea said, adding that following the attack, the US aircraft carrier retreated to the norther part of the Red Sea.