About seven hours before US and UK fighter jets rained fire on 18 Houthi targets on Saturday, the Yemen rebel group targeted a product carrier tanker serving US interests.

According to US Central Command (Centcom), the USS Mason shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile fired from Houthi territory over the Gulf of Aden at about 14:00 GMT.

The projectile’s likely target was the 49,700-dwt Torm Thor (built 2015).