DOHA, December 22. /TASS/. The Houthis from Yemen's rebel Ansar Allah movement attacked the US USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, shooting down an F/A-18 fighter jet, the movement’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said.

"Our armed forces managed to prevent a US and UK attack on our country by means of attacking the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group and several destroyers that escorted it concurrently with the launch of an aggressive attack on our country yesterday evening," he told the Houthi-controlled Al Masirah television channel.

According to the Houthi spokesman, the strike on US vessels was delivered with the use of "eight cruise missiles and 17 drones." The operation, in his words, resulted in the downing of an F-18 plane when US destroyers were trying to repel the Houthi attack.

During the Houthi attack, "most of the enemy warplanes left the Yemeni airspace" to defend the aircraft carrier in the international waters of the Red Sea, Sarea said, adding that following the attack, the US aircraft carrier retreated to the norther part of the Red Sea.

Al Masirah and the Saba news agency reported on Saturday evening that the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital city of Sana had come under a massive air attack. According to US Central Command (CENTCOM), the US military targeted Houthi command centers and missile depots in the city. The also shot down several Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile. Later, CENCOM said that the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit an F/A-18 fighter jet flying off the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier. Both pilots were rescued with one of them sustaining minor injuries.

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.