UNITED NATIONS, January 13. /TASS/. The US and British strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen are an "obvious armed aggression" and constitute a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said on Friday.

"The situation is crystal clear. Actions of the so-called coalition are in breach of Article 2 of the UN Charter. This is another military aggression of the collective West to add to the lengthy list of their `raids’ against the long-suffering Middle East," the Russian envoy told a UN Security Council meeting that discussed the strikes delivered by the United States and Great Britain against Houthi facilities in Yemen. According to Nebenzya, the White House’s "pseudo-legal justifications do not stand up to any criticism."

Nor have the strikes on Yemen anything to do with the right to self-defense, he added. "Besides, there was no authorization by the UN Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter to use force," he lamented.

After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. According to estimates by the US Defense Department’s Central Command (CENTCOM), the Yemeni rebel group has attacked more than 20 vessels and civilian ships in the Red Sea since mid-November.

On Thursday night, the armed forces of the United States and the United Kingdom delivered air strikes on rebel-held positions in several Yemeni cities, using aircraft, warships and submarines. US President Joe Biden said the military action was ordered in response to "unprecedented Houthi attacks" on shipping in the Red Sea and that the strikes were delivered in self-defense.