Yemen's Houthi rebels target ship in the Gulf of Aden as the Eisenhower aircraft carrier heads home

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a commercial ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden but apparently caused no damage, authorities said Saturday, in the latest strike on the shipping lane by the group.

The Houthi attack comes after the sinking this week of the ship Tutor, which marked what appears to be a new escalation by the Iranian-backed Houthis in their campaign of strikes on ships in the vital maritime corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military ordered the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, the aircraft carrier leading America's response to the Houthi attacks, to return home after a twice-extended tour.

The captain of the ship targeted late Friday saw “explosions in the vicinity of the vessel,” the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. A later briefing by the U.S.-overseen Joint Maritime Information Center said the vessel initially reported two explosions off its port side and a third one later.

“The vessel was not hit and sustained no damage,” the center said. “The vessel and crew are reported to be safe and are proceeding to their next port of call.”

The Houthis, who have held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014, claimed the attack Saturday night. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesman, identified the vessel targeted as the bulk carrier Transworld Navigator.

The U.S. military separately destroyed three drone boats in the Red Sea over the last day, Central Command said.

The Houthis have launched more than 60 attacks targeting specific vessels and fired off other missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They have seized one vessel and sunk two since November. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.

In March, the Belize-flagged Rubymar carrying fertilizer became the first to sink in the Red Sea after taking on water for days following a rebel attack.

The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the Israel-Hamas war.

The Eisenhower, based in Norfolk, Virginia, is returning home after an over eight-month deployment in combat that the Navy says is its most intense since World War II. The San Diego-based USS Theodore Roosevelt will take the Eisenhower's place after a scheduled exercise in the Indo-Pacific, said Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.

The Roosevelt anchored Saturday in Busan, South Korea, amid Seoul’s ongoing tensions with North Korea.

The Eisenhower had already reached the Mediterranean Sea, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ship movements. Flight-tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press showed a Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk helicopter associated with the Eisenhower flying above the Mediterranean just off the coast of Port Said, Egypt, on Saturday night.

The Eisenhower had repeatedly been targeted by false attack claims by the Houthis during its time in the Red Sea. Saree on Saturday night claimed another attack on the carrier — but again provided no evidence to support it as the ship already had left the area. Central Command called the claim “categorically false.”

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

The Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is anchored in Busan, South Korea, Saturday, June 22, 2024. (Song Kyung-Seok/Pool Photo via AP)

The Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is anchored in Busan, South Korea, Saturday, June 22, 2024. (Song Kyung-Seok/Pool Photo via AP)

The Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is anchored in Busan, South Korea, Saturday, June 22, 2024. (Song Kyung-Seok/Pool Photo via AP)

A crew member checks a helicopter in the hangar bay of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.(AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Crew members work during take off operations on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

FILE - Drawings of drones and missiles that have been shot down are painted on the fuselage of a fighter jet stationed on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea on Tuesday, June 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

Likely Yemen Houthi rebel attack targets ship in Gulf of Aden as Eisenhower reportedly heads home

FILE - The USS aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, also known as 'IKE', sails in the Red Sea on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

Likely Yemen Houthi rebel attack targets ship in Gulf of Aden as Eisenhower reportedly heads home

NICE, France (AP) — With just three days to go until France's landmark legislative elections, the country’s far-right leader on Thursday raised the uncomfortable question of who would be in charge of the military if her party takes over the government after the two-round balloting.

The early elections are plunging France into uncharted territory, and political scientists are scrambling to interpret how exactly President Emmanuel Macron and a prime minister who is hostile to most of his policies would share power if Marine Le Pen's National Rally wins the majority in the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament.

Le Pen has repeatedly said that Jordan Bardella, her protegee and her party's star leader, would lead France's next government if their increasingly popular party wins. She suggested in an interview that Bardella, at just 28 and with no governing experience, would also take over at least some decisions on France's defense and its armed forces. Macron has three years to serve out his final term as president.

Serving as a commander-in-chief of the armed forces “is an honorary title for the president since it's the prime minister who actually pulls the strings,” Le Pen said in an interview with Le Télégramme newspaper published Thursday.

The French Constitution states that “the President of the Republic is the head of the armed forces" and also “chairs the councils and higher committees of national defense." However, the Constitution also states that “the prime minister is responsible for national defense.”

Constitutional experts say the exact role of prime minister in foreign policy and defense appears to be subject to interpretation. That's a question with potentially global fallout: France has nuclear weapons and its troops and military personnel have been deployed in many conflict zones around the world.

The last time France had a prime minister and a president from different parties, they broadly agreed on strategic matters of defense and foreign policy. But this time the power-sharing concept known in France as "cohabitation" could be very different, given the animosity between far-right and the far-left politicians. Both blocs appear to deeply resent the business-friendly, centrist president.

On the issue of the country's military command, political historian Jean Garrigues said that “the president is the head of the armed forces, (but) it's the prime minister who has the armed forces at his disposal."

In practice, he said this means that “if the president decided to send troops on the ground to Ukraine ... the prime minister would be able to block this decision.”

In March, Macron warned Western powers against showing any signs of weakness to Russia and said Ukraine’s allies shouldn’t rule out sending Western troops into Ukraine to help the country against Russia’s aggression.

Le Pen is confident that her party, which has a history of racism and xenophobia and ties to Russia, will be able to translate its stunning triumph at the elections for the European Parliament earlier this month into a victory in France.

Left-wing groups and antiracism and feminist activists rallied in Paris on Thursday to urge voters to keep the anti-immigration Nationally Rally from coming out on top.

The first round will take place on Sunday. The decisive second round is scheduled a week later, on July 7. The outcome remains uncertain because of a complex voting system and potential alliances.

Le Pen said Bardella, if named prime minister, would aim to be firm but not hostile to the serving president.

“Jordan has no intention of picking a fight with (Macron), but he has set red lines,” Le Pen said. She added: “On Ukraine, the president will not be able to send troops.”

Le Pen's argument that France’s highest office is essentially ceremonial puzzled some French observers, given her own presidential ambitions.

“If she’s trying to achieve the presidency, it sort of doesn’t make very much sense for her to appear to be wanting to cut down the president to a much smaller size in the field of defense,” said François Heisbourg, an analyst on defense and security questions at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

“And I think many French people will have great trouble understanding why she appears to want to unravel the institutions,'' he said.

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Sylvie Corbet in Brussels and John Leicester in Le Pecq, France contributed to this report.

French President Emmanuel Macron waits for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at the Elyseee Palace in Paris. Macron called snap elections following the defeat of his centrist alliance at European Union elections earlier this month. Voters will choose lawmakers for the National Assembly in two rounds on June 30 and July 7. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

French President Emmanuel Macron, right, speaks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, June 27, 2024. European Union leaders are expected on Thursday to discuss the next EU top jobs, as well as the situation in the Middle East and Ukraine, security and defence and EU competitiveness. (Olivier Hoslet, Pool Photo via AP)