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Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - LONDON — The UK has launched air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen for the first time since Donald Trump re-entered the White House.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon fighter jets, working with the US military, hit a "cluster of buildings" used by the Houthis to manufacture attack drones.
The US and UK have been attacking Yemen in response to strikes carried out by the Houthis on shipping in the Red Sea since November 2023.
In response, the Houthis said Britain should "anticipate the consequences of its aggression", according to a statement on Houthi-run Al Masirah TV.
These are the first RAF air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen approved by this government – and the first direct UK participation in US-led strikes since President Donald Trump came to power.
Defence Secretary John Healy said the strikes were successful and carried out to protect UK and international shipping.
He added all UK personnel and aircraft had returned safely to base.
"A 55% drop in shipping through the Red Sea has already cost billions, fuelling regional instability and risking economic security for families in the UK," Healy said in a statement.
The MoD said the strikes were conducted after it identified a drone production facility located around 15 miles (24km) south of Yemen's capital Saana.
It said the attacks were carried out using "precision-guided bombs" after "very careful planning" to hit targets "with minimal risk to civilians or non-military infrastructure".
The strikes were carried out at night "when the likelihood of any civilians being in the area was reduced yet further", the MoD added.
The US military has been carrying out hundreds of attacks on Houthi targets in recent weeks - claiming to have killed thousands of fighters, as well as leaders of the group and commanders overseeing drone and missile production.
Houthi-run authorities have said strikes have killed dozens of civilians, but they have reported few casualties among the group's members.
On Monday, they reported at least 68 African migrants were killed in a US air strike on a detention center in north-western Yemen.
Casualty reports could not be immediately verified, but Al Masirah TV's videos showed first responders recovering the bodies of at least a dozen men.
Since November 2023, the Iran-backed Houthis have targeted dozens of merchant vessels with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. They have sunk two vessels, seized a third, and killed four crew members.
The Houthis have said they are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and have claimed - often falsely - that they are targeting ships only linked to Israel, the US or the UK.
The Houthis were not deterred by the deployment of Western warships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to protect merchant vessels last year, or by multiple rounds of US strikes on military targets ordered by former President Joe Biden.
In response to the most recent strikes, the Houthi authorities said the UK-US attacks were in "support Israel's war and genocide in Gaza".
It added that "no matter the challenges" the group will resist the "trio of evil" — the US, UK and Israel — and their allies.
In March, President Donald Trump ordered an intensification of the US bombing campaign last month in response to Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and Israel linked to the Gaza war.
RAF jets have participated in US-led airstrikes before, but that was under the last Conservative government and when President Joe Biden was in power.
Earlier this year an RAF tanker aircraft did refuel US warplanes – though the Ministry of Defence insisted, at the time, it was not directly involved in previous US strikes on Houthi rebels – carried out under the Trump administration.
The Trump administration says it is stepping up its attacks on the Houthis. The US now has two aircraft carriers in the region.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth recently criticized European countries' response to Houthi attacks.
In a recent leaked Signal chat with other senior officials, and giving details of planned US strikes, Hegseth referred to Europe as "freeloaders" and called their response "pathetic". — BBC
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