Red Sea attacks ‘concerning’, says Sunak

Britain is continuing to urge Houthi rebels to “desist” from carrying out “illegal” and disruptive attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea, the Prime Minister has said.

Rishi Sunak told a press conference in Downing Street the situation remained “concerning” as attacks on commercial shipping in the region persisted despite RAF intervention.

The UK joined the US in carrying out air strikes against the Iran-backed militant group last week but clashes along vital global trade routes in the Middle East, with warships also being targeted, have continued since.

The US military confirmed yesterday that it had fired another wave of ship and submarine-launch missile strikes against Houthi-controlled sites.

It marks the fourth time in days that it has directly targeted the group in Yemen as violence that ignited in the wake of the Israel-hamas war continues to spill over in the Middle East.

The rebels, who support Hamas in the Palestinian group’s war against Israel, claim they have targeted ships with links to Tel Aviv.

Rebel supreme leader Abdel Malek al-houthi, in his first comments since allied air strikes started, said yesterday that Western military action does “not scare us” as he vowed to continue targeting ships linked to Israel, as well as vessels with British and American ties.

US president Joe Biden responded by saying his military’s strikes on the Houthis would continue, while accepting that they had not yet curtailed the Yemeni faction's harassment of international shipping.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron met Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian while in Davos for the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, to discuss the situation in the Middle East.