✕CloseAerial footage shows moment RAF Typhoon strikes Yemen military target
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A fresh missile attack on a Red Sea ship has been reported after Houthi rebels warned that British interests were “legitimate targets” following the RAF and the US unleashing airstrikes in Yemen.
The overnight bombardment by US and UK warplanes, ships and submarines was launched in response to weeks of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the vital Red Sea.
The Houthis vowed fierce retaliation. Military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the strikes would “not go unanswered or unpunished”.
And on Friday evening, the UK Maritime Trade Operations, which oversees Middle East waters, reported a new missile attack off Yemen.
It said the missile was fired towards a ship 90 miles southeast of Aden, Yemen, but the ship reported no injuries or damage.
A British maritime security firm said the militants had mistakenly targeted a tanker carrying Russian oil.
Rishi Sunak warned that Houthi attacks threatened the economy.
The prime minister and foreign secretary David Cameron did not rule out further strikes against the Houthis.
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Militants 'mistakenly hit Russian oil tanker off Yemen’
Houthi militants mistakenly targeted a tanker carrying Russian oil in a missile attack on Friday evening off Yemen, a British maritime security firm has said.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation said it had received a report of a missile being fired 90 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s port city of Aden.
“The master reported a missile landing in the water 400-500 metres away, and being followed by three small craft,” the UKMTO advisory note said, adding that there were no injuries or damage.
Maritime security experts Ambrey said: “This was the second tanker mistakenly targeted by the Houthis whilst carrying Russian oil.”
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants, who control much of Yemen, have launched wave after wave of exploding drones and missiles at Western commercial vessels in the Red Sea since mid-November.
Jane Dalton12 January 2024 18:031705104620
Watch: David Cameron appears to not rule out further action
David Cameron appears to not rule out further action after UK strikes in Yemen
David Cameron appeared to not rule out further action against Houthi rebels in Yemen after UK and US forces bombed military facilities on Thursday night (10 January). Speaking on Friday, the foreign secretary told NBC News: "We will do what is necessary to protect our ships… What we were doing – warnings – was not working." Strikes on Thursday night were the first to be launched against the militants since they began attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Ministry of Defence said four Royal Air Force jets struck two Houthi facilities involved in their targeting of HMS Diamond and US Navy vessels on Tuesday.
Graeme Massie13 January 2024 00:101705102561
Pentagon gives details of US military strikes
US military officials on Friday said that strikes on Houthi militants in Yemen had come from an aircraft carrier, two destroyers, a cruiser and a submarine.
In total, the strikes targeted 30 Houthi-controlled locations in Yemen, with more than 150 bombs and missiles, according to The New York Times.
Fighter jets launched raids from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower, with other attacks coming from the USS Gravely, the USS Mason and the USS Philippine Sea, according to Lt Gen Douglas Sims of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.
An Ohio class submarine also took part in the strikes, according to Lt Gen Sims.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower
(US Navy)
Graeme Massie12 January 2024 23:361705101323
Mission creep, disputes and Gaza: what next after airstrikes?
The spectre of recent Western wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan, is still very much present – and the question is just how much appetite there will be for prolonged military engagement by the US and UK. Kim Sengupta considers the prospects for global war or peace:
Will the clash with the Houthi rebels lead to global conflict?
Would the US and the UK be prepared to put boots on the ground in Yemen (as Boris Johnson proposed)? Will a prolonged air campaign be enough to paralyse the Iraq-backed Houthis? There are many difficult questions left to answer over the Middle East’s latest hotspot, warns Kim Sengupta
Jane Dalton12 January 2024 23:151705099520
Anglo-Saxons perverting UN resolutions, claims Russia
Russia has condemned the allies’ strikes as "illegitimate from the point of view of international law".
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “The US airstrikes on Yemen are another example of the Anglo-Saxons’ perversion of UN Security Council resolutions.”
Ms Zakharova said the strikes showed a "complete disregard for international law" and were "escalating the situation in the region".
Russia also called for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Friday to discuss the issue.
Jane Dalton12 January 2024 22:451705098604
Editorial: Military intervention in Yemen is justifiable – for now
There should be no question about the sound legal basis for what the US and UK did, with minimal casualties. But this latest conflict cannot be allowed to develop a momentum of its own:
Military intervention in Yemen is justifiable – for now
The West’s action against the Houthi rebels may help put paid to the Iran-backed militia’s proxy war. But wider peace in the Middle East cannot be reached through the narrow straits at the mouth of Red Sea but, rather, by a rapid de-escalation of the conflict in Gaza
Jane Dalton12 January 2024 22:301705096811
War with Iran not inevitable, says UK ex-security adviser
Peter Ricketts, former government national security adviser, has said he does not think the UK and US strikes will escalate into a regional war with Iran.
Lord Ricketts told the BBC that the allies had calculated that action could be limited to dealing with the Houthis.
He added: “I don’t believe that Iran is looking to get involved in this. I think it suits Iran fine to have their proxies doing this to show that they are leading in the anti-Israel, anti-West stakes as far as the Muslim world is concerned.”
But Lord Ricketts warned that greatest risk of spillover is “extremist pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and in Syria who may well launch attacks on US bases there”.
Jane Dalton12 January 2024 22:001705096316
Defence chiefs believe they may have stopped Houthis repeating attacks
The Pentagon appears cautiously optimistic that Iran-backed Houthis will be unable to replicate the type of complex attacks they recently carried out in the Red Sea.
US Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, director of the Joint Staff, said 28 locations had been hit, using more than 150 munitions.
“I know we have degraded (their) capability,” Sims said.
“I don’t believe that they would be able to execute the same way they did the other day. But we will see,” he added.
Jane Dalton12 January 2024 21:511705095020
UK may need to strike again, says former Navy chief
Lord West, the former Royal Navy chief, backed the military action – but said Mr Sunak will have to be prepared to strike again if necessary.
The peer told The Independent: “What do we do if they [the Houthis] do the next attacks? Do we up the ante? That’s the next difficult decision. If they keep acting innocent merchant ships and our warships, then I think we will have to do something.”
Lord West, chief of UK naval staff from 2002 to 2006, played down the chances of a wider escalation with Iran.
“One of the reasons the Iranians boarded that oil tanker off Oman was because we had done nothing to the Houthis,” he said.
“I think the strikes will make Iran think, ‘Oh hang on – they do take it seriously’.
“I don’t believe it will escalate,” he added. “Opinion in the Arab street might be unfavourable. But there are terrorist groups who spend their time trying to kill us anyway, so it won’t change the threat picture that much.”
Jane Dalton12 January 2024 21:301705093220
Analysis: Why Britain and US are attacking Houthis
The Houthis are part of what Tehran labels an “axis of resistance” – which includes Hamas and Hezbollah from Lebanon – against Israel, the US and the wider West. All you need to know about what’s happening and why:
Why are Britain and US attacking Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels?
US and UK militaries have launched strikes on Yemen-based militant group which has been targeting commercial vessels and warships in the Red Sea
Jane Dalton12 January 2024 21:00NewerOlder✕
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