Houthi rebels struck a US-owned ship with a missile in the Red Sea despite a warning from the Western coalition which has moved warships to the region.

The M/V Gibraltar Eagle, a Marshall Islands-flagged, US-owned and operated container ship, was hit off the coast of Aden in Yemen, causing a fire in the hold though no injuries were reported. The ship has since continued its journey.

Ambrey, a British maritime security firm, said the ship was US-owned and “assessed the attack to have targeted US interests in response to US military strikes on Houthi military positions in Yemen”.

US Central Command said Iranian-backed Houthi militants fired an anti-ship ballistic missile from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

Earlier in the day, US forces said they shot down a missile fired at an American warship on Sunday, the first confirmed attack of its kind since allied strikes on the group last week.

The anti-ship cruise missile was fired at the USS Laboon in the southern Red Sea and downed off the port city of Hudaydah, on Yemen’s west coast, by a US fighter jet.

No injuries or damage were sustained, the US military’s central command said.

At the time, Chinese, German and Turkish merchant vessels were passing through the area, according to Ambrey.

Earlier on Sunday, the Houthis complained that US aircraft were observed flying close to Yemeni airspace and coastal areas. The group has yet to comment on the incident involving the USS Laboon, a destroyer.

The downing of the missile came after American and British forces began returning fire against the Houthis on Friday in response to the group’s spate of recent attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

The Houthis had warned its response to the US-led strikes in Yemen would be “strong and effective”.

Houthi attacks in the region have snarled commercial shipping through the key waterway, which accounts for some 15 per cent of global sea trade.

The Red Sea crisis has added to anxieties over a wider conflict in the Middle East beyond the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory, where Israel is waging a campaign to annihilate the terrorist group Hamas, which rules the strip and, like the Houthis, is backed by Iran.

Led by the secretive Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the Houthis have amassed significant firepower in less than a decade.

Some experts believe they are now a formidable fighting force, backed by weapons and training supplied by Iran.

The attacks in the Red Sea have led shipping companies to divert vessels away from the area, forcing them to take a longer route around southern Africa instead.

Since Nov 19, the Houthis have carried out at least 27 strikes on cargo ships in the region.