Yemen’s army fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea on Sunday in response to the joint U.S.-British air strikes on certain sites inside Yemen.

The joint aerial raids on Yemen on Friday night came as the forces loyal to the Ansarallah movement have targeted vessels destined for Israel in the Red Sea in retaliation to Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. 

The attack marks the first U.S.-acknowledged fire by Yemen's army.

Yemeni army’s fire on Sunday went in the direction of the USS Laboon, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer operating in the southern reaches of the Red Sea, the U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement.

The missile came from near Hodeida, a Red Sea port city long held by the Ansarallah movement, the U.S. said.

“An anti-ship cruise missile was fired from… (the) Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward USS Laboon,” Central Command said. “There were no injuries or damage reported.”

The Americans and the United Kingdom did not acknowledge conducting any strike — suggesting the blast may have been from a misfiring Ansarallah missile.

Contrary to what the U.S. and its allies claim, Yemen has been insisting that it is fully loyal to free navigation in the Red Sea.