Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted two U.S. Navy warships with multiple drones and missiles as they were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but the attacks were not successful, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

Bath-built ships the USS Spruance and the USS Stockdale fended off attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebel fighters in the Red Sea.

An attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels saw multiple explosions strike near a commercial vessel traveling through the Red Sea on Tuesday, though no damage was immediately reported by the ship, Western authorities said.

The attack on the ships was the latest in months of violence in the region by the Yemen rebels, who are backed by Iran and have targeted commercial shipping as well as the U.S. naval forces deployed to the region.

For more than a year, U.S. warships have shot down Houthi drones and missiles, but the rebels continue to menace shipping in the Red Sea.

In a close call, a Houthi missile came within 200 meters of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower earlier this year, according to a report in CTC Sentinel. Operating in the Red Sea and surrounding regions, the carrier deployed various defenses,