UNITED NATIONS, February 14. /TASS/. A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will stabilize the situation in the Red Sea as well, Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said.

"I cannot but reiterate the root causes of the current situation - Israel's ruthless military operation in the Gaza Strip, which triggered a chain reaction throughout the Middle East region, including the actions of the Ansar Allah movement. An immediate ceasefire in the sector will have a stabilizing effect on the situation in the Red Sea," the Russian diplomat told a meeting of the UN Security Council on Yemen.

Polyansky noted that the "short-sighted actions" of the United States and the UK have put "the United Nations mediation in a difficult position" because "each new strike on Yemeni territory leads to another spiral of escalation and postpones the prospects for normalization."

The diplomat added that against the backdrop of aggressive actions by Washington and its satellites, Russia has "stepped up its own mediation efforts." "We are convinced that all Yemeni players, including the leadership of Ansar Allah, are ultimately determined to continue the dialogue," he said. They must be helped and not hindered through ill-considered actions, Polyansky stressed.

Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Yemen-based Houthis said they would strike Israeli territory and prevent ships affiliated with that country from passing through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait until the operation in the Palestinian enclave ended. The Houthis have attacked dozens of civilian ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since mid-November.

Overnight on January 12, the armed forces of the United States and the United Kingdom delivered airstrikes on rebel-held positions in several Yemeni cities, including the capital, Sanaa and Hodeidah, using aircraft, warships and submarines.