UNITED NATIONS, February 14. /TASS/. The United Nations Security Council has never empowered any country to use force against Yemen, China’s Permanent Representative to the UN Zhang Jun said at a meeting of its Security Council.

"We also emphasize that the Council has never authorized any country to use force against Yemen, so not a single country is allowed to twist international law or UN Security Council resolutions to stir up new tensions in the Red Sea," he said.

In addition, Zhang Jun pointed out that the ongoing escalation and "some countries’ military moves against Yemen" had exacerbated the situation in the Red Sea.

Commenting earlier on the US and UK strikes on Yemen, the Chinese ambassador called not to misinterpret the UN Security Council’s resolutions and not to spark new hotbeds of tension.

Following the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Ansar Allah movement warned that they would carry out strikes on Israeli territory and would bar any ships associated with the Jewish state from sailing across the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until the operation in the Palestinian enclave ended. Since mid-November 2023, the Houthis have attacked dozens of civilian ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

On January 12, US and UK aircraft, naval ships and submarines delivered first joint strikes on Ansar Allah sites in some Yemeni cities, including Sanaa and Hodeidah. Houthi missile sites, drones and radiolocation systems were targeted.