UK prepares to attack Houthis in Yemen. The war in the Middle East is spreading
The British military is preparing to launch a wave of airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthi fighter group in Yemen who are creating chaos in the Red Sea, raising the prospect of a significant rise in tensions in the region and a widening of the Gaza conflict, as reported by The Times .
Under the plans, the UK would join the US and perhaps another European country in unleashing a salvo of missiles against pre-planned targets, both at sea and in Yemen itself, where the militants are based.
A Whitehall source said coordinated strikes could involve RAF warplanes for the first time or the destroyer HMS Diamond, a Type 45 which this month successfully destroyed an attack drone with a Sea Viper missile in the Sea Red.
The UK and US are reportedly expected to issue an unprecedented statement telling the Houthis to stop attacking commercial shipping or face Western military might.
Ahead of the statement, Grant Shapps, the defense secretary, said: “If the Houthis continue to threaten lives and trade, we will be forced to take necessary and appropriate action.”
The Whitehall source said the statement was a "final warning" and that if the Houthis did not stop the attacks, the response would be "limited" but "significant".
The allies are believed to be currently trying to persuade other European countries to work with the US and UK to stop the attacks, fearing there could be disastrous economic implications if maritime traffic transiting one of the country's most important trade routes of the world will continue to be interrupted.
The source was unable to confirm which aircraft might be used in the retaliatory actions under the plan, although the UK has Typhoons stationed at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, which are currently carrying out missions in Iraq and Syria. Their job is to ferret out any remnants of Isis, although The Times revealed this month that the mission has expanded to spy on Iranian-backed militias believed to be smuggling weapons into Lebanon.
The Houthis, a rebel faction that controls much of Yemen and is allied with Hamas, have carried out a series of attacks on commercial shipping since Hamas' October 7 terror attack on Israel. According to the Whitehall source, eight of the 20 ships attacked in the 30 days before Christmas were registered in the UK, had British citizens on crew or were carrying goods destined for the UK.
One of the world's major cargo companies, Maersk, said on Sunday it would delay sailings through the area for 48 hours after one of its container ships was attacked on Saturday.
In response to the wave of attacks, Washington has launched a multinational force to protect ships passing through the waterway, although allies fear the number of hostile actions will continue to rise.
Ministers are concerned because "the number of attacks is increasing and the feeling is that something needs to be done," the source said, adding that insurance for ships increased tenfold in December and that voyages were delayed, resulting in interruptions to supply lines.
The Houthis have fought for years against the official Yemeni government and against Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, attacking the Kingdom's oil facilities and eventually reaching a sort of stalemate and peace mediated by China and Iran. The Kingdom is extremely concerned about attacks on the Houthis, so much so that it has asked the US not to attack the rebels directly. The Houthi rebels come from many years of war, they are well prepared and armed by Iran. It will not be an easy conflict and if the USA and the United Kingdom think they can get away with a salvo of missiles they risk being disappointed.
Unfortunately, things have moved differently and the Gaza conflict is spreading into the Red Sea, one way or another.
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The article UK prepares to attack Houthis in Yemen. The war in the Middle East is spreading comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-regno-unito-si-prepara-a-attaccare-gli-houthi-nello-yemen-la-guerra-in-medio-oriente-si-allarga/ on Tue, 02 Jan 2024 06:30:01 +0000.