Sanaa, Yemen - American and British forces shot down 18 drones and three missiles Tuesday that were launched by Yemen's Houthis toward international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, the US military said.

The attack came a week after 12 nations led by the United States warned the Houthis of consequences unless they immediately halted firing on commercial vessels – strikes the rebels say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is waging a brutal campaign killing thousands of civilians.

"Iranian-backed Houthis launched a complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs..., anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into the Southern Red Sea," the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

The drones and missiles were downed by a combination of F/A-18 warplanes operating from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and one British and three American destroyers, CENTCOM said, adding that there were no injuries or damage reported.

The United States set up a multinational naval task force last month to protect Red Sea shipping from Houthi attacks, it said, which are endangering a transit route that carries up to 12% of global trade.

CENTCOM said US forces shot down a drone launched from Yemen over the weekend, while Vice Admiral Brad Cooper said the Houthis had launched an explosives-laden sea drone into shipping lanes last week – the first time they had used such a weapon in the current conflict.

In December, US forces sank three ships and killed 10 Houthi fighters, with a Yemeni spokesperson saying the American attacks "will not prevent Yemen from fulfilling its religious, moral, and humanitarian duty in support of the oppressed in Palestine and Gaza."

The Houthis say they are targeting Israeli-linked vessels, but Cooper, the commander of US naval forces in the Middle East, said dozens of countries have connections to ships that have been attacked.

The Houthis – who control much of Yemen – are part of the "axis of resistance" of groups arrayed against Israel and its illegal occupation of Palestine.

Following Hamas' October 7 attack, the United States rushed military aid and weapons to Israel, which has carried out a relentless campaign in Gaza that has killed at least 23,210 people, according to the territory's health ministry.

Those deaths have sparked widespread anger in the Middle East and across the world and renewed calls for an end to US intervention in the region.

Last week, the United States carried out a strike in Baghdad that killed a pro-Iran commander who it said was involved in attacks on American forces – a move that infuriated the Iraqi government.

The violence in Iraq and Syria and the continued attacks by the Houthis have raised fears of a broader regional conflict directly involving Iran in a possible worst-case scenario.