Houthis give Britons a month to leave Yemen
Order comes as Sunak says the UK will launch further strikes against the group if Red Sea attacks continue
‘We cannot stand by and allow these attacks to go unchallenged. Inaction is a choice ... the wrong one’
BRITISH and American aid workers have been ordered by the Houthis to prepare to leave Yemen within 30 days.
The order came after US and British warplanes struck eight targets connected to the Iran-backed group in Yemen, including an underground storage site and locations linked to the militia’s missile and air surveillance capabilities. Yesterday, the UN received a letter from Houthi leaders ordering US and British aid workers to leave Yemen within 30 days.
The letter, seen by Sky News said: “The ministry would like to emphasise the necessity of informing all officials and workers who hold American and British citizenship of their preparation to leave the country within a maximum period of 30 days from the date of this determination so they will be ready to leave immediately on the expiration of the period referred to, and the ministry will be sure to inform you via a ministerial letter 24 hours before departure.”
It instructed humanitarian organisations “not to recruit any employees with dual nationalities from those countries mentioned above during this period”.
Yesterday, Britain said it “will not hesitate” to launch further strikes against Houthi rebels if the Iran-backed group continue to attack shipping in the Red Sea, Rishi Sunak has said.
“We are not seeking a confrontation,” Mr Sunak said in Parliament yesterday. “We urge the Houthis and those who enable them to stop these illegal and unacceptable attacks. But, if necessary, the United Kingdom will not hesitate to respond again in self-defence ... we cannot stand by and allow these attacks to go unchallenged. Inaction is also a choice. I believe it is the wrong one.”
Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, said that the allied strikes demonstrated that “we back our words and our warnings with action”.
He said the strikes were meant to “send the clearest possible message” that the attacks on Red Sea shipping “are illegal” and “unacceptable”.
Since the US and Britain began targeting the Houthis on Jan 11, the group has launched more than a dozen raids on shipping in the Red Sea, Lord Cameron said. The latest strikes, on Monday, were supported by Albania, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Guineabissau, Hungary, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Poland, South Korea and Romania.
US fighter jets from the carrier USS Eisenhower were involved in the raid, while Britain sent four RAF Typhoons and a pair of Voyager tankers, according to the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The Pentagon said yesterday night that it had destroyed 25 missile launch strikes as well as 20 missiles so far in Yemen.
The Typhoons used precision-guided Paveway IV bombs to hit several targets at two military sites near the Sana’a airfield. “These locations were being used to enable the continued, intolerable attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea,” the MOD said.
It added that “a very rigorous analysis was applied in planning the strikes to minimise any risk of civilian casualties”.
Mr Sunak told MPS the initial evidence was that “all intended targets were destroyed”.
Britain and the US have consistently warned the Houthis to stop attacking civilian vessels in the Red Sea. The Houthis, however, have not halted operations, launching more than 30 missile and drone raids since mid-november.