Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Sunday (Jan 14) reported fresh strikes that hit the port city of Hodeida, condemning the United States and Britain for targetted attacks.
However, the United States denied the reports saying no coalition strike was conducted by Washington and London today.
A US defence official speaking on condition of anonymity said, “No US or coalition strike occurred today”, as per news agency AFP reports.
The Iran-backed rebel group’s website had earlier said that “air strikes from the American-British aggression hit Hodeida.”
The website, citing a security source said that the strikes hit the Jabal Jada area in Al-Luhaya district of Hodeida governorate, which is situated on Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
WATCH | Biden says US sent private message to Iran about Houthi attacks
The United States and British forces on Friday (Jan 12) launched strikes in retaliation to the attacks by Houthi rebels on Red Sea shipping vessels which are linked to Israel.
The rebels claim that their attacks are aimed at showing solidarity with Palestinians amid the ongoing war between Israel and the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
‘Security of all shipping harmed after US strikes on Yemen’, says Hezbollah
The Hezbollah group on Sunday said that the United States was mistaken if it assumed that the Houthis would cease confronting Israel in the Red Sea further stating that the US actions there would jeopardize the safety of all marine navigation.
“If (US President) Biden and those with him think the Yemenis will stop supporting Gaza in the Red Sea, they are wrong and ignorant. They don’t know Yemen, its people and its leadership and its history. They don’t know anything,” Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
Dubbing the coalition strikes by the US and Britain as “an act of stupidity”, Nasrallah said the Houthis would continue targeting ships belonging to Israel and going to its ports.
“The more dangerous thing is what the Americans did in the Red Sea will harm the security of all maritime navigation, even the ships that are not going to Palestine, even the ships which are not Israeli, even the ships that have nothing to do with the matter because the sea has become a theatre of fighting, missiles, drones and warships,” he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
