DUBAI, February 25. /TASS/. US and UK airstrikes on Yemen run counter to international law and violate that country’s sovereignty, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.

According to a statement posted on the Iranian foreign ministry’s Telegram channel, Kanaani "strongly condemned last night’s massive airstrikes by the United States and United Kingdom on Yemeni territory." He stressed that Washington and London’s actions "go beyond the scope of international law and violate Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity."

On February 25, the United States and United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, conducted strikes against 18 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. Since mid-November, dozens of civilian ships have been attacked by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

In response to Ansar Allah's actions, the US authorities announced the creation of an international coalition and preparations for an operation codenamed Prosperity Guardian, expected to ensure freedom of navigation and protection of ships in the Red Sea. On January 12, US and British aircraft, ships and submarines carried out their initial attack on targets belonging to the Ansar Allah movement in a number of Yemeni cities, including Sana’a and Hodeidah. The strikes targeted the launch sites of rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles, as well as radar stations belonging to the Houthi rebels.

Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthis, said earlier this week that US and UK warplanes had made 278 strikes on Yemen since January 12.