DUBAI, January 15. /TASS/. At least six members of the rebel Houthi movement Ansar Allah were killed on Sunday in a strike on Yemen's Red Sea coastal province of Hodeidah, which was attributed to combined US-UK forces, the Sky News Arabia TV channel reported, citing sources.

In addition, two advisers to the Lebanon-based Shiite party Hezbollah, which together with Iran provides military and technical support to the Houthis within Yemeni territory, fell victim to a strike on an Ansar Allah facility in Hodeidah.

Earlier, Sky News Arabia reported that one of Ansar Allah's facilities located in northern Hodeidah Province came under attack. The Houthi-owned Al Masirah TV channel claimed that the strike was carried out by US and British warplanes. However, a Pentagon official told TASS that the US-led international coalition did not carry out any strikes on Yemeni territory on Sunday.

On the night of January 12, US and British military forces attacked Ansar Allah targets in several Yemeni cities, including Sana’a and Hodeidah, using warplanes, ships and submarines. US President Joe Biden said the strikes were carried out in response to unprecedented attacks by the Houthis on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and were of a defensive nature. The targets were Houthi-run missile and drone sites, as well as radar stations.

Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis have announced that they will strike Israeli territory and will not allow the Jewish state’s ships to pass through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait until Israel’s military operation in the Palestinian enclave is halted. The US Defense Department’s Central Command (CENTCOM) estimates that the Houthis have attacked more than 20 civilian vessels in the Red Sea since mid-November of last year.