US military drowns Houthi boats after attack on navy helicopters, merchant ships

US Navy helicopters destroyed three ships on Sunday that the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are supported by Iran, had used to attack a container ship in the Red Sea. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced in a statement that the Houthis opened fire on the US helicopters, to which they "returned fire in self-defense," drowning three of the four small boats that had approached the ship within twenty metres and killed the crew members. "The fourth boat fled the area," it added. According to CENTCOM, the Maersk Hangzhou, a container ship owned and operated by Denmark and flying the…