DUBAI, February 15. /TASS/. The UK and US armed forces have carried out 40 strikes on Yemen during the past week, Houthi leader Abdel Malek al-Houthi said.

"The number of enemy raids on our country reached 40 this week. Most of them were carried out in the Al-Hudaydah Governorate and a few more in the Saada Governorate," the Houthi leader said in a speech broadcast by Al Masirah TV channel.

He sarcastically noted that one of the strikes had targeted a vehicle carrying plastic pipes, joking that this was a "colossal achievement" by Washington.

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.