US and UK launch strikes on Houthi rebel bases
Attacks against Iran-backed militants are believed to have begun shortly after 11pm
BRITAIN and the US last night launched air strikes against Iranbacked Houthis in Yemen to protect global shipping in the Red Sea.
The strikes targeted Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen, and were thought to include weapons storage and drone-launching facilities.
UK aircraft and Royal Navy ships were involved in the operation, approved last night by Cabinet ministers in an emergency joint call.
The decision followed a day of frenetic behind-the-scenes activity in Whitehall, including an emergency Cobra meeting of senior ministers and a gathering of the National Security Council.
Rishi Sunak told Abdul Fattah al-sisi, the Egyptian president, yesterday that the “UK would continue to take action to defend freedom of navigation and protect lives at sea”.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “They discussed the concerning rise in Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the disruptive impact on global shipping, including through the Suez Canal.”
Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, went to Downing Street at 8pm yesterday to brief ministers on the call.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, John Healey, the shadow defence secretary, and Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the Commons, were also given a briefing on the situation, indicating there would be no time for a Parliamentary vote to approve military action.
John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman, said: “We are going to do what we have to do, to counter and defeat these threats that the Houthis keep throwing up on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. We will continue to consult with allies and partners about the appropriate next steps.”
Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, hinted earlier this week that action was coming, urging Houthi rebels to “watch this space” as he warned that Iran was
“guiding what is happening there in the Red Sea”.
It comes after Lord Cameron last month warned that Britain will not tolerate the escalation of Tehran’s “malign” activities either in the Middle East or on home soil.
The Houthis’ leadership, which has the support of Iran, claims the attacks are aimed at pressuring Israel to halt its bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of Palestinians have been killed.
Abdul-malik al-houthi, a senior Houthi official, warned yesterday that any Western strikes would be met with more aggressive attacks.
“The retaliation to any American strike will not only be at the level of the current operation, which included more than 24 drones and multiple missiles, but will be larger,” he said.
Abdulsalam Jahaf, a member of the group’s security council, said the Houthis would “burn [US] battleships and all its bases and everyone who co-operates with it, no matter what the cost”.
On social media, he wrote: “Do the Americans, the British and the Zionists expect that any hostile action against Yemen will distract us from defending Gaza?”
Explosions were last night heard as the UK and US were reported to have begun strikes in Yemen.
An American defence official said: “Tonight the US military, in co-ordination with our partners, conducted strikes in Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen. We will have more details to share soon.”
The UK is part of a joint taskforce co-ordinated by the US, codenamed Operation Prosperity Guardian, that with France has been operating in the Red Sea since last month.
Warships have shot down Houthi attack drones attempting to disrupt commercial shipping in the Bab al-mandan Strait, which carries 10 per cent of
global shipping traffic. Maritime executives in the Middle East were warned yesterday to expect strikes in the region by a Us-led coalition, The Wall Street Journal reported, while Houthi rebels had reportedly begun moving their weapon stockpiles in anticipation.
The targets are understood to include drone launch sites, radar stations and weapons depots near the Yemeni cities of Hodeida and Hajjah, and infrastructure in Sanaa, the capital.
The move comes days after the Houthis mounted their largest and most complex assault in the Red Sea to date.
Out of 21 missiles and drones fired by the Yemeni-based force, Britain’s HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer, shot down seven. Some of the missiles were aimed at Us-flagged merchantmen crossing the Red Sea area while others targeted US and international warships protecting the merchant traffic.
Mr Shapps described it as “the largest attack on a Royal Navy warship in decades” and said he believed the Houthis, a Shia group who have held Yemen’s capital since 2014, were acting with the support of Iran.
In the wake of the attack, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate end to the Houthi attacks, and endorsed the right of UN member states to defend their vessels.
The resolution demanded “that the Houthis immediately cease all such attacks, which impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security”. Eleven nations voted for it, but Russia, China, Mozambique and Algeria abstained.
For the past decade the Houthis have waged a civil war against a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. They are thought to have been provided with intelligence from an Iranian surveillance ship.