Houthis accused of ‘thuggery’ as defence secretary says UK open to more strikes in Yemen

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has accused the Houthis of “thuggery” in the Red Sea, as he suggested the UK was open to carrying out further airstrikes in Yemen.

The British military joined forces with the US on Thursday night as it launched attacks in retaliation for the targeting of international trade in the key shipping lane.

Politics live: Ministers would consider further action against Houthis, says Shapps

Asked by Sky News’ Kay Burley if the government planned an escalation of the action, Mr Shapps said no, but insisted the UK would “monitor the situation very carefully”.

“Our intention is not to go into Yemen or anything like that, but simply to send a very clear, unambiguous message to the Iranian-backed Houthis that their behaviour in the Red Sea is completely unacceptable,” he added.

“We cannot have that situation where they are trying to harass [Red Sea vessels] and we’ll keep a very close eye.

“If we have to take further action then that’s something that we would consider.”

The US carried out a further strike in Yemen on Friday, but reports suggest only 25% of the Houthi capability to carry out attacks on cargo ships has been damaged.

“We never thought that this would remove all of their facilities,” said the defence secretary. “That wasn’t the goal. The goal was to send a very clear message.”

Describing the Houthis’ behaviour as “almost like thuggery,” Mr Shapps said: “We are waiting to see now what happens.

“That international waterway in the Red Sea should be open to international shipping. That is the international law.

“We got increasingly concerned that international shipping was having to reroute and adding hugely to the cost of shipping.”

He added: “We took the action that you saw last week and we’ve made it clear that we will wait and see what happens next.

“But we can’t have a situation where freedom of navigation, the ability for ships to move around the world in international waters, effectively impugned by Iranian-backed Houthis harassing that shipping.”

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A spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces in the Houthi-controlled north of the country said in a televised statement that the bombardment “will not go unanswered and unpunished”.

And it linked the strikes with the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, saying it would not deter their support for the Palestinians.

On Sunday, Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron denied any link between the Yemen strikes and the war in Gaza, saying the action was “completely separate”.

But experts warned those in Arab nations would be unlikely to see it in the same way.

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to make a statement on the military action in the Commons later on Monday.

He briefed Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer ahead of the strikes on Thursday – who has given the government his support – as well as the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

However, some MPs are angry ministers did not bring the issue to parliament before joining the US-led operation last week, with the Liberal Democrats demanding a retrospective vote on the issue.

Asked by Burley if Labour would support further action without parliamentary approval, shadow minister Sir Chris Bryant said: “Let’s hear what the prime minister has got to say this afternoon.

“Because I think we would – everybody will – want to know what is the limit of this action, what are we trying to achieve by it, have we achieved what we wanted to achieve already, and what happens if there are further incidents in [the Red Sea].

“So I think this is kind of ‘watch this space’. Everybody is very, very careful. I think that nobody wants to escalate the situation to a position where it could get out of control.”