DUBAI, July 9. /TASS/. The Houthis from Yemen's rebel Ansar Allah movement have attacked the three vessels they claim to be linked to Israel and the United States, the movement’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said.

According to the spokesman, the Yemeni naval and missile forces conducted a join operation in the Arabian Sea and attacked the US Maersk Sentosa ship. Apart from that, in his words, the Houthis staged drone attacks on the Marathopolis ship in the Arabian Sea for violating the ban "on the passage to the ports in occupied Palestine" and the Israeli MSC Patnaree vessel in the Gulf of Aden," he 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 Houthi 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. Since then, the United States and the United Kingdom have been regularly delivering strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.