Yemen's Ansar Allah movement, whose members are also known as Houthis, vowed in November 2023 to attack any ships associated with Israel until it halts military actions in the Gaza Strip. This led the United States to announce a multinational operation to secure navigation in the Red Sea. US and UK forces later launched numerous strikes against Houthi positions in a bid to degrade their ability to target commercial vessels.
Russia slammed the anti-Houthi operation as a "complete disregard for international law" by Western countries "for their own destructive purposes."