US told Israel it would lead response to Houthi attacks: Report

U.S. officials reportedly told their Israeli counterparts to let them lead the response to repeated Houthi attacks.

The United States wants to handle the response to ensure the conflict between Israel and Hamas does not expand, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed U.S. and other government officials.

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Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have Iran's backing, have launched a series of missiles at commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and at Israel while also employing a series of drones that have flown near U.S. military ships that have answered distress calls from the attacked vessels. They fired a surface-to-surface missile toward Israel on Wednesday, which “did not cross into Israeli territory and did not pose a threat to civilians,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.

The U.S. has not responded militarily to the repeated incidents, though the Treasury Department announced sanctions on Thursday against 13 people and entities that have provided the Houthis with tens of millions of dollars.

Houthi militants have carried out a series of missile and drone attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and U.S. military personnel have responded to distress calls from the attacked ships. The USS Mason, a Navy guided-missile destroyer, shot down a drone on Wednesday that originated from Houthi-controlled territory, a defense official told the Washington Examiner .

"We don’t see conflict. We don’t want to see this widen out to a regional war or into the larger region. And that’s why you’ve seen the secretary make the decisions he did to send to carrier strike groups, one in the eastern [Mediterranean] and then one of course in the CENTCOM area of responsibility, to deter, to send a message of deterrence, to send a message to Iran and its proxies who would want to inflict, whether it's damage or harm to U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria or disrupt commercial commerce in the Red Sea and in the region," Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Thursday.

Last weekend, three commercial vessels were targeted by missiles that were fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, and the USS Carney, which responded to distress calls from the ships, shot down multiple drones heading toward it.

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National security adviser Jake Sullivan said this week that Iran "fully enabled" these attacks.

The U.S. and other partners within the Combined Maritime Forces are looking at increasing maritime security for commercial vessels in waterways near Yemen due to the threat.