RAF: UK and US forces bomb Houthi rebel facilities after Royal Navy's HMS Diamond targeted by drones

The strikes on Thursday night were the first to be launched against the Houthi militants since they started targeting international shipping in the key international trade route. 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.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak said Britain has taken “limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence” after the Iranian-backed group attacked ships in the Red Sea. The government has faced calls for greater consultation in Parliament on the military action amid concerns over escalation in the Middle East.

One of the airstrikes was at Bani and the other the Abbs airfield, used to launch drones and cruise missiles. The US Air Force said it struck more than 60 targets at 16 sites in Yemen. The UK and US had non-operational support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands.

On Friday, Armed Forces Minister James Heappey played down concerns about the danger of escalation after criticism from Russia, which requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on the strikes. There are fears over a dramatic regional widening of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and rising tensions with Iran, which backs the Houthis and has condemned the air strikes.

Saudi Arabia has expressed “great concern” over the situation and has called for “restraint and avoiding escalation”. Mr Heappey told BBC Breakfast: “Clearly there is nervousness amongst those partners in the region that there could be some sort of escalation, but we were confident that these limited, proportionate, necessary strikes that went in last night were what was necessary to disrupt the Houthis’ ability to attack our warships that are protecting shipping in the southern Red Sea.

“And clearly nobody should see this as part of anything bigger.” The minister also said the the Government’s “legal position is sound” and that no more UK strikes are planned for the moment. Mr Sunak, early on Friday morning, said it “cannot stand” that the Houthis continued to carry out “dangerous” attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea despite repeated warnings from the international community.

“The United Kingdom will always stand up for freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade.” The prime minister, who is making a surprise visit to Ukraine on Friday, held a full Cabinet call the previous evening in which ministers discussed the response to disruption on the key global shipping route.

In an unusual move, the Government briefed Sir Keir Starmer and shadow defence secretary John Healey after the call. Sir Keir on Friday expressed support for the action but called for Mr Sunak to make a statement to Parliament “at the first opportunity”.

With the Commons having finished business for the week and the Prime Minister having no plans to recall Parliament, the Labour leader accepted any statement to MPs was not likely to come before Monday. “I do want the Prime Minister obviously to make a statement to Parliament as soon as possible because the scope, nature and extent of the operation needs to be explained,” Sir Keir said.

He said he also wanted a summary of the Government’s legal position to be published. Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the strikes as “a reckless act of escalation” and said it “is utterly disgraceful that Parliament has not even been consulted”.

The Houthis have claimed their attacks have been on Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea in response to the country’s bombardment of Gaza since Hamas’ assault on Israel on October 7. The Ministry of Defence said early indications are the strikes dealt a “blow” to the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping in the Red Sea, through which some 15 per cent of the world’s shipping passes.

But the militants said the strikes would not prevent them from continuing their attacks. A high-ranking Houthi official, Ali al-Qahoum, posted on X: “The battle will be bigger… and beyond the imagination and expectation of the Americans and the British.”