On Sunday, the French government announced that one of its warships in the Red Sea successfully intercepted two attack drones fired from Yemen. The two separate incidents were reported to have taken place two hours apart from one another.
France’s Ministry of Defense issued a statement saying that the drones, “came straight at” the Navy frigate Languedoc and were both destroyed at 9:30pm and 11:30pm local French time. The ministry did not assign responsibility for the launches to any party.
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas invasion of southern Israel, Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have been firing missiles toward Eilat and attacking merchant ships in the area that they believe are linked to Israel.
The attacks have also included a hijacking attempt of the M/V Central Park which was rescued after a boarding operation by the USS Mason. The tanker is operated by U.K. based Zodiac Maritime, run by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
Since 2015, the Houthi movement has been fighting what they claim is Saudi intervention in Yemen, with the goal of eventually controlling the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula.
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