LONDON, January 12. /TASS/. Air strikes, delivered by the United States and the United Kingdom on facilities of the Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement in Yemen on Friday, were a "limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defense," UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement.
"The Royal Air Force has carried out targeted strikes against military facilities used by Houthi rebels in Yemen," he said, adding that the military operation was carried out in response to Houthi actions.
"In recent months, the Houthi militia have carried out a series of dangerous and destabilizing attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, threatening UK and other international ships, causing major disruption to a vital trade route and driving up commodity prices," the premier continued. "Their reckless actions are risking lives at sea and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Yemen."
"This cannot stand. 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-defense, alongside the United States with non-operational support from the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain against targets tied to these attacks, to degrade Houthi military capabilities and protect global shipping," Sunak added.
He went on to say that UK warships will continue "to patrol the Red Sea as part of the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian to deter further Houthi aggression, and we urge them to cease their attacks and take steps to de-escalate."
US and UK forces carried out a military operation against Yemen’s rebel movement Ansar Allah in the early hours of Friday, January 12. Outskirts of the western port city of Al Hudaydah, and other targets in the provinces of Sana’a, Al Hudaydah, Saadah and Dhamar came under heavy fire.
UK warplanes attack two Houthi facilities
In turn, the UK Ministry of Defense said "four RAF Typhoon FGR4s, supported by a Voyager air refueling tanker therefore used Paveway IV guided bombs to conduct precision strikes on two of these Houthi facilities."
"One was a site at Bani in north-western Yemen used to launch reconnaissance and attack drones. A number of buildings involved in drone operations were targeted by our aircraft," the ministry said in a statement. "The other location struck by our aircraft was the airfield at Abbs. Intelligence has shown that it has been used to launch both cruise missiles and drones over the Red Sea. Several key targets at the airfield were identified and prosecuted by our aircraft."
"In planning the strikes, particular care was taken to minimise any risks to civilians, and any such risks were mitigated further by the decision to conduct the strikes during the night. The detailed results of the strikes are being assessed, but early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow, and our commitment to protecting the sea-lanes, through which some 15% of the world’s shipping passes and which is vital to the global economy, has been amply demonstrated," the statement says.
After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis claimed that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory and would not allow ships associated with it to pass through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until the operation in the Palestinian enclave stopped. According to CENTCOM, over 20 commercial carriers and ships have been attacked in these waters since mid-November. In response, the US government declared it was launching operation Prosperity Guardian to ensure the safety of navigation and protect ships in the Red Sea.