Two US Navy pilots escaped safely after a fighter jet was shot down over the Red Sea, likely by friendly fire, officials said

The US military announced on Sunday that two US Navy pilots shot down their plane over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident. The two pilots were recovered alive, while one of them was slightly injured in the accident.

The incident came at a time when the US Army launched air strikes on the area The Iran-backed Houthis in YemenAlthough the US Army Central Command did not clarify the details of their mission at the time.

Central Command said in a statement, “The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, part of the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, accidentally fired and hit an F/A-18 aircraft, which was flying off the aircraft carrier.” USS Harry S. Truman.” statement.

Earlier on Saturday, US Central Command said it had carried out precision airstrikes in Houthi-controlled territory in Sanaa, Yemen, against a missile storage facility and a command and control facility.

The strikes came in response to its continuation Houthi attacks On US Navy warships and merchant ships in the southern Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The agency added that during the operation, US Central Command forces also shot down several Houthi attack drones, as well as an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea.

Early Saturday morning, a rocket Launched from Yemen An area in Tel Aviv was bombed, wounding at least 16 people. The Houthis issued a statement on the Telegram application in which they said that they targeted a hypersonic ballistic missile at a military target, but they did not specify it.