BREAKING NEWS

US-British forces strike Houthi targets in Yemen, Houthi outlet says

Yemen's port city of Hodeidah and other western coastal areas were hit on Monday by a dozen airstrikes attributed to a US-British coalition defending ships in the Red Sea, according to Al Masirah, the main Houthi-run television news outlet.

Despite reprisals from the US-British coalition and other navies, the Houthis have escalated their campaign of attacks on commercial vessels in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, which they say is in solidarity with the Palestinians under attack in Gaza in Israel's war with Hamas.

Al Masirah did not specify which targets, if any, had been hit, but said four of the strikes had been on the port of Ras Issa.

Many ships are now making the longer, more expensive trip around Africa's Cape of Good Hope to avoid the dangerous route through the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal - sharply raising shipping costs.