Allied strikes targeted a Houthi underground storage site and missile and surveillance sites – Reuters
Monday’s allied strikes targeted a Houthi underground storage site as well as missile and air surveillance sites, according to a Pentagon statement seen by Reuters.
“These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners,” the statement said.
The Pentagon detailed the eight new strikes in a joint statement with the UK, as well as from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, which supported the latest military action.
The statement said the strikes were proportionate and necessary.
According to PA, the latest set of UK strikes could raise questions about the prime minister consulting MPs before military action. Rishi Sunak was criticised for authorising the first strikes when parliament was not sitting, with some MPs demanding House of Commons scrutiny. Sunak did brief opposition leader Keir Starmer and shadow defence secretary John Healey, according to PA.
Key events
Houthi spokesperson calls UK and US ‘perpetrators’ of ‘genocide’ in Gaza and says airstrikes ‘will only increase the Yemeni people’s determination’
Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, a senior political official and spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi rebels, has posted on X/Twitter in response to Monday’s US and UK airstrikes.
“The American-British aggression will only increase the Yemeni people’s determination to carry out their moral and humanitarian responsibilities towards the oppressed in Gaza,” he said. “The war today is between Yemen, which is struggling to stop the crimes of genocide, and the American-British coalition to support and protect its perpetrators.”
Posting an undated video that appeared to show children dying, he added: “Thus, every party or individual in this world is faced with two choices that have no thirds: either to preserve its humanity and stand with Yemen, or to lose it and stand with the American-British alliance. Who do you stand with as you watch these crimes?”
Getty Images has some pictures coming out of Houthi-controlled Sana’a, Yemen, from Monday.
The Houthis are a Shia rebel group, backed by Iran, that has held Sana’a since 2014, and been at war with a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s exiled government since 2015.
UK defence secretary: strikes conducted ‘in self-defence’ to ‘degrade’ Houthi capabilities
The UK government has confirmed its role in the joint airstrikes on Monday, saying precision-guided bombs were used to hit two military sites in order to help “support regional stability across the Middle East”.
The ministry of defence said in a statement: “Four Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s, supported by a pair of Voyager tankers, joined US forces in a deliberate strike against Houthi sites in Yemen.”
“Our aircraft used Paveway IV precision guided bombs to strike multiple targets at two military sites in the vicinity of Sanaa airfield. These locations were being used to enable the continued intolerable attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea. This follows our initial operation on 11 January, and subsequent US action, to degrade the Houthis’ capability to conduct such attacks.”
The UK defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said in a statement: “Dangerous Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have continued to threaten the lives of sailors and disrupt shipping at an intolerable cost to the global economy. Along with our US partners, we have conducted a further round of strikes in self-defence.”
He went on: “Aimed at degrading Houthi capabilities, this action will deal another blow to their limited stockpiles and ability to threaten global trade. Alongside our ongoing diplomatic efforts, we will continue to support regional stability across the Middle East, working hand in hand with our like-minded partners.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer and shadow defence secretary John Healey did not receive a briefing ahead of the latest airstrikes (contrary to ten days ago), according to PA.
Allied strikes targeted a Houthi underground storage site and missile and surveillance sites – Reuters
Monday’s allied strikes targeted a Houthi underground storage site as well as missile and air surveillance sites, according to a Pentagon statement seen by Reuters.
“These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners,” the statement said.
The Pentagon detailed the eight new strikes in a joint statement with the UK, as well as from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, which supported the latest military action.
The statement said the strikes were proportionate and necessary.
According to PA, the latest set of UK strikes could raise questions about the prime minister consulting MPs before military action. Rishi Sunak was criticised for authorising the first strikes when parliament was not sitting, with some MPs demanding House of Commons scrutiny. Sunak did brief opposition leader Keir Starmer and shadow defence secretary John Healey, according to PA.
The US-UK strikes are currently ongoing, according to Sky news, against Houthi targets in Yemen.
Although the strikes are only the second time British forces have joined in, for US forces they are the eighth set of attacks in rceent weeks, retaliating against Houthi attacks on shipping in a crucial international commercial route.
Earlier on Monday, the US military denied claims made by the Houthis that they had attacked an American cargo ship, Ocean Jazz, in the Gulf of Aden.
A statement from the Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, reported by Reuters: “The Yemeni armed forces continue to retaliate to any American or British aggression against our country by targeting all sources of threat in the Red and Arab Sea.” The US military denied the claims.
The continued strikes show how the UK and US continue to be drawn into conflict in the Middle East amid Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October and Israel’s destructive ground campaign in Gaza, in which over 25,000 people have been killed.
On Monday, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet and the top Navy commander in the Middle East, told AP that Iran is “very directly involved” in ship attacks that Yemen’s Houthi rebels have carried out since October – but stopped short of saying Iran is directing them.
Reuters says it confirmed with three US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, that fresh airstrikes were carried out, but did not say how many targets were hit.
Before, US and UK forces mainly hit Houthi missiles and radar sites, striking more than 60 targets in 28 locations, according to AP:
The Houthis’ media office said in an online statement that several American and British raids targeted Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. And Jamal Hassan, a resident from south Sanaa, told The Associated Press that two strikes landed near his home, setting off car alarms in the street. An Associated Press journalist in Sanaa also heard aircraft flying above the skies of Sanaa overnight Monday.
Here is a bit more from AP on the latest joint airstrikes:
US officials say the US and British militaries are bombing multiple sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.
It is the second time the two allies have conducted coordinated retaliatory strikes on the rebels’ missile launching capabilities.
Officials say warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets were used to take out Houthi missile storage sites and launchers.
The joint operation comes about 10 days after US and British warships and fighter jets struck more than 60 targets in 28 locations.
US and UK launch second joint airstrikes on Houthi missile sites in Yemen
US and British forces have conducted joint airstrikes targeting Houthi missile sites in Yemen for a second time.
The latest strikes came shortly after the White House said Joe Biden, the US president, had spoken to the UK prime minister Rishi Sunak, emphasising the need to continue “disrupting and degrading” Houthi military capabilities.
Three US officials confirmed the latest move against the Iran-aligned group over its targeting of Red Sea shipping, according to Reuters.
The US military denied claims that the Yemeni rebels had successfully targeted a US military support ship earlier in the day.
White House spokesman John Kirby said the US president had discussed the situation with the British prime minister on Monday, following continued Houthi attacks on shipping transiting the Red Sea and nearby Gulf of Aden over the past week.
“They talked about what’s going on in the Red Sea and the need for a continued international multilateral approach to disrupting and degrading Houthi capabilities,” Kirby told reporters in Washington, in an apparent reference to military action.
I’m Fran Lawther and we’ll be bringing you the latest updates as we get them.
