GAZA STRIP: Palestinian group Hamas on Sunday condemned a wave of US and British strikes on Yemen, warning the attacks would bring “further turmoil” to the Middle East.

Hamas in a statement called the bombing of Houthi targets “a blatant assault on the sovereignty of a sister Arab country, and an escalation that will drag the region into further turmoil”.

The United States and Britain struck dozens of targets in Yemen late Saturday, their third joint operation in response to repeated attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Houthis that have disrupted global trade.

Iran says Yemen strikes ‘contradict’ US, UK policy

The air raids in Yemen came a day after a separate wave of unilateral American strikes against Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the killing of three US soldiers in Jordan on January 28.

Anger over Israel’s devastating campaign in Gaza – triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 – has grown across the Middle East, stoking violence involving Tehran-aligned groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

27,365 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani earlier accused the United States and Britain of “fuelling chaos, disorder, insecurity and instability” by supporting Israel.

He said the strikes on Yemen were “in clear contradiction with the repeated claims of Washington and London that they do not want the expansion of war and conflict in the region”.