Cairo, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi spokesman Yahya Sareya said in a statement on Feb. 15 that the group fired several missiles at a British merchant ship sailing in the Gulf of Aden and accurately hit the target.
Sareya said the vessel that was attacked was named the Laikavitos. The Houthis will do more to retaliate against the US and UK airstrikes.
According to public shipping information, the Lekavitos is a Barbados-flagged bulk carrier operated by a British company.
The British Maritime Operations Office said early on the 15th that a merchant ship sailing in the Gulf of Aden reported that there was a ** in the sea not far from the ship on the same day, and there was no damage to the crew and hull. The name of the attacked vessel was not disclosed.
According to the Houthi-controlled Masira TV 15**, the United States and Britain launched another airstrike on the Red Sea city of Hodeidah in Yemen on the same day. Since the 7th of this month, the Houthis have reported daily reports of air strikes by the United States and Britain in northern Yemen's Saada province and western Hodeidah province.
After the outbreak of a new round of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict last October, Yemen's Houthi rebels used drones and missiles to repeatedly attack targets in Red Sea waters. Since January 12 this year, the United States and the United Kingdom have launched successive airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, killing and injuring many people. Some countries condemned the actions of the United States and the United Kingdom, arguing that they were a violation of Yemen's sovereignty and would exacerbate regional tensions.