Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said Sunday night that they had attacked an American warship and two civilian ships in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, their latest effort to disrupt shipping in support of war-ravaged Palestinians in Gaza.

In a statement, Yahya Saree, a Houthi spokesman, said the Shia group fired ballistic missiles at the American destroyer, but did not clarify whether the target was hit. 

Naval missiles were also fired at a ship called the Captain Paris, and drones at a ship called the Happy Condor. 

Early on Sunday the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said that a vessel 40 nautical miles south of Yemen's al Mukha had reported two explosions nearby. The vessel and its crew were safe and continuing their journey, it said, without identifying the ship.

Yemen's Houthi rebels, who control Yemen's capital and most of it populated areas, have launched dozens of attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea region since November in solidarity with Palestinians.

The attacks have upended global trade by forcing ship owners to reroute vessels away from the Suez Canal, and the Western forces have been carefully retaliating due to fears of sparking a wider Middle East war.