A warning was issued to the global maritime shipping industry to temporarily avoid passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, after the United States and the United Kingdom struck targets in Yemen after midnight Thursday/Friday.

The US and UK, in cooperation with other allies, carried out more than 60 airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen early Friday, in an attempt to stop Houthi attacks targeting several vessels south of the Red Sea.

The Intertanko trade group representing owners of oil, chemical, and gas tankers said the joint naval forces from fleets of 39 countries, including the US and UK, said all ships should stay "far" away from Bab al-Mandab, according to Bloomberg News Agency.

The memo was also posted on the website of one of the major shipping insurance companies.

A joint statement by the allies said that the military strikes carried out by the US and UK against Houthi militants in Yemen after midnight Thursday/Friday, in cooperation with other countries, were executed in accordance with the United Nations Charter.

The statement added that the raids come "in response to illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi attacks against ships, including commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea".

The Houthis claim they are targeting ships headed to or affiliated with Israel in the Red Sea "in support of the people of Gaza who are being bombed by the Israeli state".