The UK and the US have launched fresh airstrikes against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, the second time in 10 days that the two allies have conducted coordinated retaliatory action against the Iran-backed group.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak and US president Joe Biden spoke on Monday evening and the two said they’ll “continue efforts alongside international partners to deter and disrupt” attacks by Houthis on Red Sea international shipping.
Officials say the joint operation by British and American warplanes took out Houthi missile storage sites and launchers.
However, Monday night’s strikes were significantly smaller in scale than the first joint US-UK operation 10 days earlier, which hit as many as 60 different targets spanning the length and breadth of Houthi-controlled Yemen.
In a joint statement, the governments of the US, UK, Bahrain, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands said the “precision strikes” were “intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners”.
In addition to the joint operations with British forces, the US has also undertaken seven rounds of airstrikes on Houthi military sites, targeting air bases under the rebels’ control and suspected missile launch sites.