British and US forces have launched an attack on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The attacks reportedly took place in the capital, Sana’a, and the governorates of Sa’dah, Hodeidah, Taiz, and Dhamar.
The US Air Force says America, Britain and their allies struck more than 60 targets at 16 Iranian-backed Houthi militant locations on Thursday night with more than 100 precision-guided munitions of various types.
US officials said the strikes had been carried out by warship-launched Tomahawk missiles, as well as fighter jets and a submarine.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been targeting shipping in the Red Sea.
In a statement issued shortly after the attacks, US President Joe Biden said: “These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes.”
Denmark, Germany, New Zealand and South Korea added their names to the six nations that took part in the joint strikes.
Late on Thursday, prime minister Rishi Sunak called an emergency cabinet meeting, amid speculation the UK would launch strikes.
He said in a statement: “The United Kingdom will always stand up for freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade. We have therefore taken limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence.”
Speaking this morning, the Armed Forces minister James Heappey confirmed the UK has no immediate plans to launch further strikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen.
Asked about potential further strikes, Heappey told the BBC: “There are none immediately planned, and that’s an important point.”
Following the reports that a cabinet meeting was being called, opposition MPs urged the PM to recall parliament ahead of the UK taking military action.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Layla Moran MP said: “If the UK plans to take military action, it’s vital there is a vote in Parliament.
“The Prime Minister must make arrangements for a recall of Parliament if strikes are planned before Monday.
“The Liberal Democrats are very concerned by Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
“It’s destabilising for regional security and has a detrimental impact on cost of living in the UK too as ships are diverted.”
Conservative MP Neil O’Brien on Friday said he was “not necessarily” against the joint military action against the Houthi rebels in Yemen but that the UK’s “main interventions of the last 25 years have been failures”.
“What counts as success? Realistically, how far would we need to go to achieve this? How will we avoid being dragged into something we don’t want”, he added on X (formerly Twitter).
Lord Ricketts, a crossbench peer who served as the UK’s first national security adviser under Tony Blair, has said targeted strikes against Houthi rebels are “necessary” and “inevitable”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think it became inevitable when the clear warnings that the US and UK and others had put out over weeks were ignored by the Houthis”.
He added: “And I think the final straw was that very complex and dangerous attack on the naval task force itself a couple of nights ago, I think at that point they couldn’t allow this to continue.
“It’s already having a major disruptive effect on this big maritime artery which carries 20% of all the world’s container traffic, as well as a lot of oil and gas exports, and therefore I think this attack was necessary, I think it was inevitable.
“I think they’ve tried to make it large enough to send a very powerful message, but equally being clear it’s targeted against the attacks on shipping, it’s not a declaration of war against the Houthis more generally.”
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.
