In this March 12, 2011 file photo, US destroyer USS Mason sails in the Suez canal in Ismailia, Egypt (AP photo)

WASHINGTON — Multiple missiles were fired on Saturday at three US warships in the Red Sea, though none was hit and there were no casualties, the US military said, amid rising tensions with Yemen's Houthi rebels. The latest attack could provoke further retaliation by the U.S. military, which launched cruise missiles on Thursday against three coastal radar sites in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen in response to the two previous failed missile firings against the Mason. “A US Strike Group transiting international waters in the Red Sea detected possible inbound missile threats and deployed appropriate defensive measures,” a US defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. But the US strikes earlier this week did not take out Houthi missiles and, though the radar destruction makes it harder to aim the weapons, officials have warned rebels could still use spotter boats or online ship-tracking websites to find new targets. The war has been largely overshadowed by the conflict against the Islamic State militant group elsewhere in the Middle East, though rights groups have increasingly criticized the Saudi-led coalition's airstrikes in recent months, as well as the United States as the coalition's primary weapons supplier.
The United States Navy's USS Mason is fired on for the third time in a week from territory controlled by Houthi forces in Yemen, while in international waters of the Red Sea. The ship deployed countermeasures and was not struck, according to U.S. officials.