Blasts have occurred in Sanaa, Hodeidah and other cities, the Iran-backed Shia group said

The US and UK began carrying out strikes on Houthi militia targets in Yemen in the early hours of Friday.

Washington and London had vowed to retaliate against attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. 

The Houthis have pledged support for Gaza as a result of the fighting between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, and have launched multiple drones and missiles at merchant vessels, as well as warships, patrolling the vital waterway. 

The Houthis are a Shia Islamist militia that rose to power following the wave of protests known as the Arab Spring, which swept the Middle East in the early 2010s.

One of the poorest countries in the region, Yemen has been plagued by an intermittent civil war for nearly a decade. It was further devastated by a Saudi-led intervention, which began in 2015 with the aim of expelling the Houthis.