The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
France refuses to sign off strikes on Yemen
James Crisp, James Badcock, Henry Samuel Nick Squires
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FRANCE refused to sign a statement of support for the US and UK air strikes on the Houthis after it said it would not take part in bombing raids to protect Red Sea shipping.
Washington and London took action on Thursday after the Houthis attacked ships, including HMS Diamond, with drones on Tuesday.
Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Korea and Bahrain signed a joint statement backing the US-UK strikes and warning of further action.
The Dutch also provided logistical help during the strikes but other major European powers including France, Spain and Italy did not offer military or political support.
But Paris was joined by Italy and Spain in not only refusing to take part in the strikes, but eschewing the chance to sign a statement in support of them. Emmanuel Macron’s government has ruled out joint action with its Western allies, unlike in Libya in 2011 and against Islamic State in Syria in 2015.
Rear Admiral Emmanuel Slaars, the country’s naval commander in the area, said Paris’s current mandate did not include striking Houthis directly.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a French official said Paris feared that by joining the US-led strikes, it ‘France prefers to stick to what it is already doing – reassuring and protecting commercial vessels in the Red Sea’ would have lost any leverage it had in talks to defuse tensions between Hezbollah and Israel. France has focused much of its diplomacy in recent weeks on avoiding an escalation in Lebanon.
French warships are active in the Red Sea region, protecting the country’s shipping. They also patrol maritime zones where the Iran-backed rebels are active as part of the US-led mission, Prosperity Guardian. On Friday, the French foreign ministry said it condemned the Houthi attacks and said states had the right, according to international law, to react.
A spokesman said: “France will continue to assume its responsibilities and contribute to maritime security in this zone in conjunction with its partners.”
Eloise Fayet, a research fellow at the French Institute of International Relations, said: “France is very insistent on trip. The destination had been selected as the perfect point to unveil Britain’s military aid donation to Ukraine for 2024. The £2.5 billion package of support to counter the Russian invasion, £200 million more than the amount pledged by Britain in previous years, includes drones and help on long-range missile capability. But was it right for the Prime Minister to fly overseas as British fighter jets executed a military mission he had signed off ? What if something went wrong?
The inevitable conversation about whether to cancel the trip to see Volodymyr Zelensky was ended by Mr Sunak himself, who decided travelling there would emphasise his message to the Kremlin that the West was not taking its eye off the conflict.
A Downing Street source said: “It shows we won’t be distracted one week from another from Ukraine by what is happening elsewhere. We will keep supporting Kyiv.”
The second complication was coordinating with the Americans. It is Washington, Whitehall insiders familiar with the planning for the strike accept, that was leading on military matters.
Behind the scenes, the White House has been planning strikes on the Houthis for weeks. Joe Biden has been meeting his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, on a “near daily basis” to discuss the Houthis.
On New Year’s Day, following an attack on the Danish Maersk Hangzhou container ship that was repelled by US forces, Mr Biden ordered his team to “accelerate the pace” of building support for military action at the UN, according to a senior official. The US and 13 allies issued a “final warning” on Jan 3, but the concept of acting as a balancing power and a third way. This stance is maintained by France and is therefore incompatible with such strikes, threats of strikes against the Houthis. For the moment, France prefers to stick to what it is already doing, namely operations to reassure and protect commercial vessels crossing the Red Sea.”
Italy said it was not asked to take part in the Anglo-American attacks. Spain has no plans to join any mission to protect shipping from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea area and has appeared to distance itself from Washington’s approach to the problem.
In December 2023 Spain’s government was forced to deny that it was joining the Prosperity Guardian mission in the Red Sea after US officials said the Spanish navy would be taking part. Then Spain blocked a proposal by
Houthi rebels struck again on Tuesday.
“As soon as that attack was defeated, the President again convened his national security team and was presented with military options for a collective response together with close partners,” the official said. “At the end of that meeting, the President directed Secretary Austin to carry out this response.”
The UK, unlike other members of Operation Prosperity Guardian, was willing to partake in the strikes, not just give rhetorical support.
Military cooperation between the two nations has long been the cornerstone of the “special relationship”, with British defence figures historically given passes to the Pentagon in Washington to roam freely. But there came a point of tension on Thursday evening, as the strike time approached. It came when reported that a Cabinet meeting had been called to discuss military action. ‘The USBritish action is based on the right of self-defence, aims to protect free passage and is focused on descalation’ ‘Warnings to the Houthis have not been heeded. These are targeted and proportionate actions’ other European states to repurpose the union’s Atalanta anti-piracy mission in the Indian Ocean to address the Houthi threat. Spain is a major contributor of naval force to the mission, which is hosted in Andalucia.
Germany is meanwhile pushing to expand a French-led EU anti-piracy mission in the region. Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister, said the Houthis were “contributing to the destabilisation of an already tense regional situation”.
Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said: “The US-British action is based on the right of self-defence, aims to protect free passage and is focused on de-escalation,” said.
“The Netherlands places significant importance on the right of free passage and supports this targeted operation.”
Observers believe Macron wanted the country to act as a balancing power and a ‘third way’ in the region
The Daily Telegraph has been told by one well-placed source that the US military expressed frustration with their counterparts. Usually such strikes are made public only once jets have returned to their bases.
As news of an imminent strike leaked in the UK, the published a story citing “maritime executives” in Yemen who had been warned by the US government to expect strikes in the coming hours.
It has become convention over the past 20 years, rather than law or constitution, that Parliament is given a say, and a vote, on military action.
But Parliament was bypassed this time with Government ministers fearing it would make the strike less effective by giving the Houthis more time to react.
Ministers would argue that the strike was self-defence and one-off in nature, so skipping a vote was justifiable – an argument Labour did not contest.
Meanwhile, the true scale of US grumbling about the leak is unclear. Mr Shapps said he was not aware of any frustrations in Washington over the leak. Senior Whitehall figures insisted that it had no impact on the timing or approach of the military action itself.
A cabinet call took place at 7.45pm on Thursday. Mr Sunak, who had left Whitehall in the nschalate afternoon to travel to Ukraine, said: “Warnings to the Houthis have not been heeded. These are targeted and proportionate actions.”
Mr Dowden then briefed the Opposition. He would remain in No 10 with Mr Sunak overseas. Only once the mission was complete, in the early hours of yesterday morning, did the Deputy Prime Minister head home, with the job done.