Two US Navy pilots were shot down over the Red Sea on Sunday in an alleged “friendly fire” incident, the US military he said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in more than a year of US targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Both pilots were rescued alive after ejecting from the stricken aircraft, and one suffered minor injuries. But the shooting underscores how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become, with constant attacks on ships by the Iran-backed Houthis despite US and European military coalitions patrolling the area.

The U.S. military carried out airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time of the friendly fire incident, although U.S. Army Central Command did not elaborate on what the pilot’s mission was and did not respond to questions from The Associated Press.

The downed F/A-18 had just taken off from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, Central Command said. On December 15, Central Command acknowledged that Truman had entered the Middle East, but did not specify that the carrier and its battle group were in the Red Sea.

“The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired at an F/A-18 and hit it,” Central Command said in a statement.

According to the military description, the downed aircraft was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter assigned to the Red Rippers of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 from Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

It was not immediately clear how Gettysburg could have mistaken the F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, especially since the ships in the battle group remain linked by both radar and radio communications.

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However, the Central Command said warships and aircraft had earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. In the past, incoming Houthi enemy fire gave sailors only seconds to make a decision.

Since Truman’s arrival, the US has stepped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their rocket fire on the Red Sea and the surrounding area. However, the presence of a group of U.S. warships could trigger more insurgent attacks, like what the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower saw earlier this year. That deployment marked what the Navy described as the most intense fighting since World War II.

On Saturday night and early Sunday, US warplanes carried out airstrikes that shook Sana’a, the Yemeni capital that the Houthis have held since 2014. Central Command described the strikes as targeting a “missile depot” and a “command and control facility,” without elaborating. .

Houthi-controlled media reported attacks in Sana’a and around the port city of Hodeida, without offering information on casualties or damage. The attacks in Sana’a seem to have been specifically aimed at the slopes of the mountain, where military installations are known to be located. However, no images or information were released regarding the attacks – which has already happened when airstrikes have hit vital insurgent facilities.

Brig. General Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, released a pre-recorded statement hours later in which he claimed the rebels had launched eight drones and 17 cruise missiles in their attack. He also claimed without providing any evidence that the Houthis shot down the F/A-18, possibly following the pattern of his exaggerated claims. During Eisenhower’s deployment, he repeatedly falsely claimed that the carrier had been hit by Houthi fire.

The Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant ships with missiles and drones since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, following a surprise Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages.

Israel’s heavy-handed offensive in Gaza has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say. The list does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.

The Houthis have seized one container and sunk two in the campaign who also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones were intercepted by separate US- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which also included Western military vessels.

The rebels claim they are targeting ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some that were bound for Iran.

The Houthis are also increasingly targeting Israel itself with drones and missiles, which has resulted retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would act “violently” against the Houthis, as it has done against Iran’s other allies, “only in this case, we are not acting alone.”

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