British fighter jets joined their US counterparts in airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels overnight, the first military action authorised by the Labour government and the first UK participation in an aggressive American bombing campaign against the group.
RAF Typhoons, refuelled by Voyager air tankers, targeted a cluster of buildings 15 miles south of the capital, Sana’a, which the UK said were used by the Houthis to manufacture drones that had targeted shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The British defence secretary, John Healey, said the attack was launched in response to “a persistent threat from the Houthis to freedom of navigation”. The Iran-backed group has attacked merchant shipping and western warships, leading to a sharp drop in trade flows.
“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,” Healey said in a social media post shortly after midnight.
Britain had joined with the US to conduct five rounds of airstrikes against the Houthis between January and May 2024, part of the Operation Poseidon Archer campaign authorised by the Biden administration, but had not been involved in the fresh and more intense US effort until now.
On 15 March, the Trump administration launched a fresh campaign against the Houthis, Operation Rough Rider. There have been 800 targets struck and it has resulted in the deaths of “hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders”, according to the US military’s central command.
There have also been reports of higher civilian casualties. This week, the Houthis said 68 people were killed when a detention centre holding African migrants was struck in Saada, north-west Yemen, while 80 civilians were reported to have died in an attack on the port of Ras Isa on 18 April.
Annie Shiel, the US director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, said the “US strikes continue to raise significant questions about the precautions taken to prevent civilian harm, as required by both international law and US policy”, and noted that there appeared to have been a shift in policy under Donald Trump.
Overnight on Tuesday, the UK said it had taken steps to minimise the risk of civilian casualties. The Houthi buildings were targeted with Paveway IV missiles once “very careful planning had been completed to allow the targets to be prosecuted with minimal risk to civilians or non-military infrastructure”, the Ministry of Defence said.
It emphasised that “as a further precaution, the strike was conducted after dark, when the likelihood of any civilians being in the area was reduced yet further”, though no damage assessment was offered at first.
Healey later told the Commons that after an initial damage assessment the MoD had said: “The planned targets were successfully hit and we see no evidence of civilian casualties.”
One of the reasons the UK had decided to attack the Houthis was to show support for Washington, Healey said. “The US continues to be the UK’s closest security ally. They’re stepping up in the Red Sea. We are alongside them.”
There was little immediate comment from the US. Its defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said the American military must emphasise “lethality, lethality, lethality” and has cut programmes intended to minimise civilian harm.
News agencies said the Houthis had reported several strikes around Sana’a, which the group has held since 2014, but there were few other details immediately available. Other strikes hit the area around Saada.
The Houthis are targeting shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in support of Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza, the subject of a renewed offensive by Israel.
A statement from the Houthi administration in Sana’a accused the UK of “typical British arrogance” and pledged to fight on. “We emphasise that this attack falls within the ongoing Anglo-American efforts to support the Israeli enemy by attempting to halt Yemen’s assistance to Palestine, so that the Israeli enemy can continue its genocide in Gaza,” it said.
The US boasts considerably more firepower than the group, but a $60m (£45m) US navy F-18 Super Hornet jet was lost at sea on Tuesday. US officials said initial reports indicated the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier, on which the F-18 was being towed, made a hard turn to evade Houthi fire. That contributed to the fighter jet falling overboard and sinking.
The start of Operation Rough Rider caused controversy in the US over Hegseth’s use of the unclassified Signal messaging app to post sensitive details about the attacks, including in a group containing a journalist.
