Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen said on Thursday that just 37 people were killed and 30 wounded in 424 US and British airstrikes on their military sites involved in attacking ships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis, who control Yemen's capital and most populous areas, have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea since November in solidarity with the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas militants, drawing US and British retaliatory strikes since February. The attacks began after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei urged Muslims to blockade Israel.

Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, the leader of the pro-Iran rebels, in a televised speech said 90 ships had been targeted in the Red Sea and drone attacks had increased and expanded to additional regions.

He said 34 attacks had been launched in a month, using 125 ballistic missiles and drones.

The Houthi attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing firms to take longer and more expensive journeys around the southern tip of Africa.

The United States and Britain carried out the strikes against Houthi targets in response to the attacks on shipping.

Iran has mobilized it armed proxy groups in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen against Israel since the October 7 Hamas assault on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel invaded Gaza to eradicate Hamas and in six months of fighting between twenty and thirty thousand Gazans have died, with thousands of militants among them.