The US and the UK have conducted a further round of strikes against the Houthis in an attempt to stop the rebel group targeting shipping in the southern Red Sea.
A joint statement from both countries said that they had conducted “an additional round of proportionate and necessary strikes” against eight Houthi targets, with the support of Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands.
The number of targets is considerably lower than the 60 which were struck in the first air raids on Yemen made by the two countries 10 days earlier, while their effect and the number of casualties caused is uncertain.
The latest raid marks the eighth time the US has conducted strikes on Houthi targets this months and the second time that the UK has participated.
US officials briefed that the attacks by the two countries were taking place using fighter jets and ship launched cruise missiles, as initial footage and reports emerged on social media of explosions around the Houthi controlled capital Sana’a.
The bombing took place shortly before midnight Yemen time, according to the US Central Command, which covers the Middle East. Targets included missile launchers, air defence systems, radars, and weapons storage facilities below ground, it added.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said four RAF Typhoon jets bombed targets at two military sites in the vicinity of the Sana’a airfield, which it said had been used to launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Grant Shapps, the UK defence secretary, said: “Along with our US partners, we have conducted a further round of strikes in self-defence. Aimed at degrading Houthi capabilities, this action will deal another blow to their limited stockpiles and ability to threaten global trade.”
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but the UK defence ministry said that a “very rigorous analysis” was applied in planning the strikes to minimise any risk of civilian casualties, and added that the bombing took place at night partly for that reason.
Because the strikes were said to have been undertaken in self-defence, following Houthi attacks on US and UK warships nearly a fortnight ago, the UK government has not sought the approval of parliament for the military action. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is understood to have not been consulted before Monday’s operation.
Mohammed Albukhaiti, a member of the Houthi’s ruling council, insisted the rebel group would continue to defy the west, although it was unclear how much damage to its military capability had been inflicted by the latest round of attacks.
“The American-British aggression will only increase the Yemeni people’s determination to carry out their moral and humanitarian responsibilities towards the oppressed in Gaza. The war today is between Yemen, which is struggling to stop the crimes of genocide, and the American-British coalition to support and protect its perpetrators,” he said.
Earlier in the evening, Joe Biden had spoken to Rishi Sunak about the Red Sea crisis, emphasising the need to continue “disrupting and degrading” Houthi military capabilities, an apparent reference to military action.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said the US president had discussed the situation with the British prime minister on Monday, following continued Houthi attacks on shipping transiting the Red Sea and nearby Gulf of Aden over the past week.
“They talked about what’s going on in the Red Sea and the need for a continued international multilateral approach to disrupting and degrading Houthi capabilities,” Kirby told reporters in Washington, in an apparent reference to military action.
The UK said Sunak and Biden had spoken in the evening UK time, where they also discussed the war in Gaza and funding for Ukraine. According to the British account, “the leaders condemned the surge in violent Houthi attacks”, and said they would continue to combat by putting diplomatic pressure on Iran to cease their support of the Yemeni group and “as needed, targeted military action to degrade Houthi capabilities”.
Britain joined with the US in launching 150 missiles at dozens of Houthi targets in Yemen 10 days ago, in an effort to halt a series of attacks by the rebel group, dating back to mid October, on shipping passing through the Red Sea region. More limited US bombing has followed in the days since.
But the US-led attacks have failed to eliminate the Houthi threat, and three attacks on merchant shipping were reported over three days last week, as the Houthis have signalled their determination to resist. The rebel group says it is targeting Israel and its western allies in support of Palestinians in Gaza in its targeting of the waterway.
Earlier, the Houthi movement claimed on Monday its forces had launched a missile attack on the American military cargo ship Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden – but this was denied by the US.
“The Yemeni armed forces continue to retaliate to any American or British aggression against our country by targeting all sources of threat in the Red and Arab Sea,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement.
Shortly after, the US fifth fleet, stationed in the Middle East, said reports that Ocean Jazz had been successfully attacked were “patently false”.
Naval operational headquarters had “maintained constant communications” with Ocean Jazz “throughout its safe transit”, the fleet added in a statement released via X.
On Sunday two US Navy Seals who went missing, after falling into the sea, during an operation to seize Iranian weapons bound for Yemen’s Houthi rebels were declared dead after a 10-day search failed to locate them.
The missing service members had participated in an operation on 11 January, in which US forces boarded a dhow at night-time in rough seas off the coast of Somalia and seized missile components made in Iran, according to the Pentagon.
