MOSCOW: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed on Friday that the air force of the United Kingdom carried out strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, reported Sputnik.
“The Royal Air Force (RAF) has carried out targeted strikes against military facilities used by the Houthis in Yemen,“ UK broadcaster Sky News quoted Sunak as saying.
Sunak added that “the Houthis have carried out a series of dangerous and destabilising attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, threatening the UK and other international ships, causing major disruption to a vital trade route and driving up commodity prices”.
“We have, therefore, taken limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence, alongside the United States with non-operational support from the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain against targets tied to these attacks, to degrade Houthi military capabilities and to protect global shipping,“ Sunak said.
The UK Defence Ministry said in a statement on Friday that the country’s military used Typhoon fighter jets and Paveway IV guided bombs to carry out strikes against Houthi facilities, namely a site for launching reconnaissance and attack drones in the Bani Matar district and an airfield in the Abs district.
“Four RAF Typhoon FGR4s, supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker, used Paveway IV guided bombs to conduct precision strikes on two of these Houthi facilities,“ the statement said.
The ministry added that “particular care was taken to minimise any risks to civilians” in the planning phase for the airstrikes.
The ministry is assessing detailed results of the airstrikes, but “early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow”, the release said.–Bernama-Sputnik