Houthis: We’ll keep attacking Red Sea ships

IRAN-backed Houthi militants vowed last night to continue their attacks on Red Sea shipping after their drone control centres were bombarded by British air strikes.

On Saturday night, RAF Typhoon jets joined the US in dropping laserguided bombs on Houthi targets in Yemen, from where the rebels have launched repeated attacks on commercial cargo tankers.

But the rebel group threatened tit-for-tat violence. Spokesman Nasr al-Din Amer said: ‘We will meet escalation with escalation. Either there is peace for us, Palestine and Gaza, or there is no peace and no safety for you in our region.’

Britain joined a US-led international coalition that hit sites across Yemen held by the Houthis, who have attacked international shipping in the Red Sea with drones, missiles and hijacking.

The group is part of Iran’s socalled ‘axis of resistance’ against Israel, although Iran has denied involvement with the latest Red Sea attacks. Saturday night’s strikes in Yemen came a day after the US attacked 85 sites in Iraq and Syria, where it says Iran is funding other proxy forces. Those strikes were retaliation for a drone attack days earlier on a US base in Jordan that killed three US military personnel.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said yesterday that its actions were ‘the beginning, not the end of our response’ and warned ‘there will be more steps, some seen, some perhaps unseen’.

The Houthis claim their attacks on tankers in the Red Sea are targeted against ships linked to Israel in protest against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza. But they have hit ships with no clear links to Israel.

The Sunday Times reported that Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron had told Iran’s foreign minister: ‘These proxies are your proxies... You created them, you backed them, you financed them, you provided them with weapons, and you will be accountable for what they do.’