DUBAI, February 25. /TASS/. The Houthis said they carried out a missile strike on the US-flagged oil tanker Torm Thor in the Gulf of Aden.

"The Yemeni Navy carried out a high-quality operation to strike the US oil tanker Torm Thor in the Gulf of Aden with anti-ship missiles," the group’s military spokesman, Yahya Saree, told the Houthi-owned Al Masirah television channel.

The US Central Command earlier said the USS Mason destroyed an anti-ship missile that had been fired from Yemen toward the Torm Thor, a US owned and operated oil and chemicals tanker.

The Houthis also carried out a drone attack on some US Navy ships in the Red Sea, Saree said.

Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the group, also known as the 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. On January 12, US and UK aircraft, naval ships and submarines struck Houthis sites in some Yemeni cities for the first time. The targets included the Houthis sites for launching missiles and drones, along with locations of radar stations.