Houthi rebels still firing missiles at US war and cargo ships in the Red Sea show West's barrage of airstrikes on Yemen sites were limited in ability to neutralize the enemy, officials claim

A US cargo ship was hit Monday by a missile fired by the Houthi rebels in YemenOn Friday, the US and UK launched strikes on 13 targets, without civilian deathsAn official said the attack on the cargo ship shows Friday's strikes were limited

US and UK airstrikes on Houthis have had limited impact, a US official has warned – after an American cargo ship was hit by rebel missiles.

Monday’s attack by the Houthis on the M/V Gibraltar Eagle – a Marshall Islands-flagged, US-owned and operated container ship – did not result in serious damage.

No one was hurt, and the ship was continuing it journey. But, an official told CNN, it showed that Friday’s attack on the Houthis failed to significantly degrade their capabilities.

The Houthis, backed by Iran, have since November been attacking ships in the Red Sea, purportedly in support for Gazans.

Washington and London have repeatedly warned the Houthis and their Iranian controllers to stop attacking the vital shipping route.

On Friday they took action after their warnings were ignored, and struck 30 targets, the U.S. said. Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said 13 targets were hit.

Houthi rebels in Yemen are seen at a rally in Sanaa on January 11

Footage shared on social media showed the U.S. and British air strikes in Yemen on Friday

The strikes were successful – 93 percent of their targets were damaged or destroyed.

But they were limited: they left intact almost three quarters of Houthi capabilities, a senior official told CNN.

‘Message received and some degradation – but we expect a response, and don’t believe we have set back their military efforts substantially,’ the official said.

John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, said on Friday that the strikes achieved their aims.

‘This wasn’t some signaling exercise,’ he said. ‘This was designed to disrupt and to degrade Houthi military capabilities.’

The strikes were launched against command and control nodes, munitions, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems.

‘This was not necessarily about casualties as much as it was about degrading capability,’ Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims II, director of operations for the Joint Staff, said in a briefing last week.

‘This was solely designed to get after the capability that is impeding the freedom of navigation in international waters, and we feel pretty confident we did good work on that.’

Britain insisted the strikes were an act of ‘self-defense’ intended to ‘de-escalate tensions and to restore stability to the region.’

Yet on Monday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) first reported there had been an ‘incident’ 95 nautical miles south east of Aden.

That report only said the ship’s captain reported that the ‘port side of vessel hit from above by a missile,’ but did not identify the ship or elaborate.

The U.S. later confirmed the ship was the M/V Gibraltar Eagle.

And on Sunday, the Houthi rebels launched an attack against an American destroyer in the Red Sea.

Sunday’s attack toward the American warship marked the first U.S.-acknowledged fire by the Houthis since America and allied nations began strikes Friday on the rebels following weeks of assaults on shipping in the Red Sea.

A US commercial ship was hit by a missile off the coast of Yemen on Monday

On Sunday Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched an attack against an American destroyer in the Red Sea

The Houthis — a Shiite rebel group allied with Iran that seized Yemen’s capital in 2014 — have targeted that crucial corridor linking Asian and Mideast energy and cargo shipments to the Suez Canal onward to Europe over the Israel-Hamas war, attacks that threaten to widen that conflict into a regional conflagration.

It wasn’t presently clear whether the U.S. would retaliate for the latest attacks, though President Joe Biden has said he ‘will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.’

The UKMTO warned ships to ‘transit with caution and report and suspicious activity’.

The Shiite rebel group has declared war against the West over its support for Israel

A US fighter jet shot down anti-ship cruise missile fired toward the American destroyer USS Laboon (pictured) by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea Sunday, their first response to a series of drone strikes fired by the Americans in recent days

The missile came from near Hodeida, a Red Sea port city long held by the Houthis, the U.S. said.

The Houthis have been attacking commercial ship sin the Red Sea which they claim are headed to Israel as they aim to support Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.

A US fighter jet blasted the Houthi cruise missile out of the sky over the Red Sea on Sunday before it was able to hit its target, the USS Laboon.

Rebels were seen posing with machine guns and rocket launchers in photos released Sunday.

Fighters were also photographed earlier in the weekend conducting drills and recording themselves in terrain made to resemble Jewish settlements.