Houthi rebels for the first time fired surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) at a U.S. F-16 fighter jet on Feb. 19, three senior U.S. defense officials tell Fox News.

The jet was flying off the coast of Yemen over the Red Sea when the SAM was fired. The missile did not strike the jet.

Houthis fired another SAM at an American MQ-9 Reaper drone that the U.S. was flying over Yemen outside Houthi-controlled areas on Feb. 19.

This is the first time the Houthis have fired a SAM missile at an American F16 fighter jet, a significant escalation in the ongoing military interactions between the Iranian-backed group and the U.S. Navy and Air Force, according to senior U.S. defense officials. 

US NAVY SHIPS REPEL ATTACK FROM HOUTHIS IN GULF OF ADEN

Under the Biden administration the U.S. military defended its warships patrolling the Red Sea and Bab al Mandab Strait, escorting and preventing attacks on commercial ships by the Houthis following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel by Hamas.

The Houthi attacks began shortly after the Israeli military responded to Oct. 7 in Gaza. U.S. Central Command then escalated its attacks on the Houthis to degrade infrastructure and weapons-storage facilities. 

Now there is a policy debate at the highest levels of the U.S. military about what is the best way to counter the Houthis, which the Trump administration has put back on the State Department’s terror list.

The debate now is whether to carry out a more traditional counterterrorism approach to the Houthis, with persistent strikes targeting the individuals planning and carrying out the ongoing attacks, or whether to take a more defensive approach and keep going after Houthi infrastructure and weapons-storage facilities.

President Donald Trump; Houthi fighters riding military vehicles. (Getty Images)

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A counterterrorism approach would be a significant – and, some say, expensive – escalation at a time when military resources, including MQ-9 Reaper drones, are being diverted to the southern border.

The policy decision will eventually have to be decided by the White House. 

Senior military leaders believe that it could be only a matter of time before a Houthi missile hits a U.S. Navy vessel, which could cause devastating injuries and damage to the aircraft carriers and destroyers that have been patrolling the Red Sea since shortly after the Oct. 7 attacks.

This is a locator map for Yemen with its capital, Sanaa. A possible attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday targeted a ship further away from nearly all of the previous assaults they have launched in the Gulf of Aden, officials said, potentially part of a widening escalation by the group. (AP Photo)

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So far, the Navy has shot down or intercepted all of the missiles and drones fired at their warships by the Houthis, but sometimes the interceptions have occurred seconds before impact.

There have been numerous close calls, and the U.S. Navy in essence has been at war in the Red Sea for the past two years, facing near-constant attacks by Houthi ballistic and cruise missiles and drones, and firing expensive SM-2 and SM-3 missiles to counter the Houthi harassment.