UNITED NATIONS, May 13. /TASS/. The Western coalition’s strikes on Yemen violate the UN Charter, can have no excuse and only worsen the escalation of tensions in the Red Sea, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya has said.

"The already difficult situation has become even more complicated due to the Western coalition's unjustified strikes on the territory of sovereign Yemen, undertaken in violation of the UN Charter. Such actions, as well as the ongoing militarization of the water areas near Yemen in general, do not help at all to ensure the safety of shipping in the Red Sea. They merely increase the escalation," he said at a meeting of the UN Security Council.

Nebenzya also noted the failure of attempts "to justify this aggression by Security Council Resolution 2722 or by references to the right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter."

"The failed experience of the US-led coalition clearly proves that the use of force against Yemen will not put the situation in the Red Sea on the right track. We need a comprehensive approach taking all regional aspects into account," he stated.

Following the escalation of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Ansar Allah movement warned that it would bombard Israeli territory and prevent ships associated with it from passing through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait as long as the operation in the Palestinian enclave continued. Since last November, the Houthis have attacked dozens of civilian ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

In March, Ansar Allah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said his supporters intended to attack Israeli-linked ships traveling across the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope. On May 3, the Houthis announced a "fourth phase of the escalation" and vowed to attack all ships bound for Israeli ports in areas they could reach, including the Mediterranean Sea.

In response to Ansar Allah's actions, the US authorities announced the formation of an international coalition and the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian to ensure freedom of navigation and ship security in the Red Sea. Subsequently, the armed forces of Britain and the United States began to regularly attack rebel military facilities in various provinces of Yemen.