Alleged missile attack on USS Mason

Third Attack on the Mason

 * U.S. warship targeted in failed missile attack from Yemen: official Reuters via Yahoo News.
 * A U.S. Navy destroyer was targeted on Saturday in a failed missile attack from territory in Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, the third such incident in the past week, U.S. officials said.
 * Multiple surface-to-surface missiles were fired at the USS Mason sailing in international waters in the Red Sea but the warship used on-board countermeasures to defend itself and was not hit, one defense official said, citing initial information.
 * The Pentagon on Thursday stressed the limited nature of the strikes, aimed at radar that it suspected enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the Mason on Sunday and Wednesday.
 * The Pentagon on Thursday stressed the limited nature of the strikes, aimed at radar that it suspected enabled the launch of at least three missiles against the Mason on Sunday and Wednesday.

That was meant to stop them targeting US vessels again, but apparently it failed.

Note: most of the hundreds of comments say things like "pound the Houthis into the sand," "make them an example." A couple of good comments include:
 * Caustic(me): "Wow that USS Mason has the kind of bad luck previously displayed by the USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy. The North Vietnamese, Yemenis, other poor countries on Wall (Street's hit) list, they always deny it, but Wall Street's forces are too smart for that."
 * "Actually I should say good luck - they get fired on repeatedly but never get hit. Huh! Suicidal hit-list regimes with no success. Let's go blow up some Yemeni funerals huh? Jingoism and saber rattling or carpet bombing, it's great fun! Let's all go in lockstep! Viva House of Saud!"
 * dg59 "Just so you know, since the Yahooze will never tell you..

The USS MASON is a Guided Missile Destroyer. It eats missiles for snackes. That's just what destroyers do!"
 * "It was designed, purposed, and equipped with multiple types of counter measures to stop and destroy and inbound missiles toward it or any of the other US vessels in the area."
 * ''Honey Badger don't care, and neither does the USS MASON!!!!!

False-flag attack?

 * Yemen's Houthi movement denies attack on U.S. warship: official - Reuters, October 10, 2016
 * ''"(The Houthi movement) denies targeting any ship off Yemeni waters," a Houthi official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
 * New Gulf of Tonkin Incident? US Destroyer 'Attacked Off Yemen Coast'
 * ''To the naked eye, the alleged attack on the USS Mason bears an eerie superficial resemblance to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the August 1964 'attack' on the USS Maddox (since proven to have been a false flag operation) which gave US President Lyndon Johnson Congressional authorization to begin military operations against Vietnam.
 * مصدر عسكري ينفي استهداف القوة الصاروخية لأي بارجة قبالة السواحل اليمنية (Military source denies targeting any warship off the Yemeni coast with missile) - SABA, October 10, 2016
 * tweet by LDDC_info "False Flag 2. This is the 2nd time that Mason has been the subject of hostile fire in a period of 3 days, without being hit, however."
 * tweet by Open Source Intel "Tonkin Gulf redux? US Ship Fired 3 Missiles "to Defend Itself" #Houthis #Saudi #Iran #falseflag #WWIII" (links to South Front article)
 * Tweet by Shamira "@michaelharrisdr @LibertyNews1776 what's this # Mason doing there? To provoke war ... For False flag op just like the USS Liberty"
 * Who done what? - Col. Lang, Sic Semper Tyrannis, October 13, 2016
 * ''So, why did the CO of USS Mason not react more forcefully DURING the attack?
 * After Attacking Yemen’s Houthis, US Admits They Don’t Know Who Fired Missiles - Jason Ditz, October 14, 2016
 * According to an English-language summary by Haykal Bafana of a statement by ex-President Saleh, the attacks were done by AQ fighters/mercenaries who had returned from Syria to Aden recently, and then deployed to Bab al Mandab on behalf of the Saudis to drag the US into the war. According to the statement from October 13, the US was informed (by Saleh) beforehand about these returning fighters and their intentions through diplomatic and private channels.
 * USS Mason fires missiles in Red Sea after apparent attack - Barbara Starr and Caroline Kenny, CNN, October 16, 2016
 * ''Officials Saturday night were uncertain about what exactly happened, if there were multiple incoming missiles or if there was a malfunction with the radar detection system on the destroyer. "We are aware of the reports and we are assessing the situation. All of our ships and crews are safe and unharmed," one US defense official told CNN.

Saudi missile attack

 * Jennifer #IAmYemen ‏@teddy_cat1 on Twitter, October 12, 2016
 * Few hours before Reuter's announcement of a U.S. Navy destroyer came under missile attack off Yemen on Sunday, Saudi official accounts on tweeter like Journalist Fahd Kamely and Saudi-24 News had tweeted that the Royal Saudi Naval Forces targeted what they thought to be an Iranian ship for suspicion of supplying Houthis with weapons! They immediately deleted their tweets following this announcement, but many people have saved a picture for those tweets before being deleted and since then are circulating them on tweeter... (via PavewayiV)

Reactions

 * US swears revenge on Houthis for attack on warships, Al Masdar News, October 11, 2016


 * “Counterstrike, retaliatory strike: I can tell you that those things are things that we are looking at,” Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Tuesday. “We want very much to get to the bottom of what happened,” said Davis. “We're going to find out who did this and we will take action accordingly.” “We will make sure that anybody who interferes with freedom of navigation and puts US Navy ship at risk understands they do so at their own peril,” he stated.

US attack

 * Pay-back strike on the radar: US hit Yemen after the attacks on the destroyer - RIA, October 13, 2016 (in Russian)
 * ''The US military attacked a radar station in Yemen, the attack was a response to attacks on US destroyers in the Red Sea.
 * U.S. military strikes Yemen after missile attacks on U.S. Navy ship - Reuters, October 13, 2016
 * ''The U.S. military launched cruise missile strikes on Thursday to knock out three coastal radar sites in areas of Yemen controlled by Iran-aligned Houthi forces, retaliating after failed missile attacks this week on a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials said.
 * ‘Limited self-defense strikes’: US military destroys 3 ‘radar sites’ in Yemen - RT, October 13, 2016
 * ''The attack on coastal targets was carried out by Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the destroyer USS Nitze, NPR reported. According to US officials all targets were “in remote areas, where there was little risk of civilian casualties or collateral damage.”
 * ''“These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships, and our freedom of navigation in this important maritime passageway,” the statement reads.
 * US uses tomahawk cruise missiles to attack Houthis in Yemen - Al Masdar News, October 13, 2016
 * ''According to the official media wing of the Houthi forces, the U.S. Navy fired three tomahawk cruise missiles at their radar sites, confirming what the Pentagon reported on Thursday morning.
 * ''No casualties have been reported by the Houthi forces as of yet.
 * US Military Strikes Targets in Houthi-Controlled Areas of Yemen - SouthFront, October 13, 2016
 * The US just bombed Yemen, and no one's talking about it - Moustafa Bayoumi, The Guardian, October 16, 2016

Continued attacks?

 * ‘Limited & proportionate’: Obama vows to continue ‘self-defense’ strikes in Yemen - RT, October 15, 2016

US spin

 * America’s Hot Proxy War with Iran - Max Boot, Commentary Magazine, October 13, 2016
 * This Could Be Why Rebel Missiles Keep Missing U.S. Warships - Robert Bateman, Esquire, October 13, 2016

Context

 * The Yemen Crisis and the Bab el-Mandeb Maritime Chokepoint - Saudi-US Relations Information Service, April 14, 2015