Houthi attacks. A British ship destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi

British Defense Minister Grant Shapps announced on Thursday on social media that a day earlier, the British warship HMS Diamond destroyed a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels at a merchant ship sailing near Yemen during operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. He emphasized that this was the first time since the Persian Gulf War in 1991 that any Royal Navy ship had shot down a ballistic missile in combat.

“The crew of HMS Diamond continue to save innocent lives in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Yesterday, Diamond became the first Royal Navy ship to shoot down a missile since 1991 when it destroyed a Houthi missile targeting merchant ships,” Shapps wrote on X.

The object of the Houthi attack was the American container ship MV Maersk Yorktown.

HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer, was deployed to the Red Sea last December in response to escalating attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on merchant ships passing near Yemen. In mid-December, using the Sea Viper anti-missile system installed on the ship, it repelled an attack of drones launched at it by the Houthis. The British Ministry of Defense announced at the time that it was the first time since the 1991 Gulf War that any British ship had been attacked from the air.

HMS Diamond was later targeted twice more – in the first half and at the end of January, but all these attacks were conducted using drones. The Times reported on Thursday that the ship shot down a total of nine drones launched by the Houthis during the three attacks.

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While it has not been confirmed what exact ballistic missile was shot down, The Times explains that the Houthis have been firing Iranian Fateh missiles, typically short-range Fateh-110 ballistic missiles, as well as their derivative Zolfaghar intermediate-range ballistic missiles, at ships in the Red Sea .