UK and US carry out second joint attacks on Houthi military targets in Yemen

Published

1 year ago

January 23, 2024

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The US and UK have carried out joint attacks on Houthi military targets in Yemen for the second time.

The strikes targeted a Houthi underground storage site and locations associated with the Houthis’ missile and air surveillance capabilities, a joint statement from the UK, US, Bahrain, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands said.

It added that attacks by the Houthis on “international and commercial vessels” in the Red Sea “constitute an international challenge”.

The Ministry of Defence said four RAF Typhoons, supported by a pair of Voyager tankers, “joined US forces in a deliberate strike against Houthi sites in Yemen”.

It added that Paveway IV precision-guided bombs were used to strike “multiple targets at two military sites in the vicinity of Sanaa airfield”.

The MoD continued: “These locations were being used to enable the continued intolerable attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea.”

It said a “very rigorous analysis” was used to minimise any risk of civilian casualties, which included the decision to attack at night.

The Houthis support Hamas and have been attacking ships they claim are either linked to Israel or heading to Israeli ports. However, several of the group’s attacks have been on vessels from other countries.

Houthi media said the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, was among the targets, along with several other areas.

Jamal Hassan, who lives in south Sanaa, said two strikes landed near his home, setting off car alarms in the street.

Aircraft were heard flying over Sanaa, an Associated Press journalist said.

Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, and US President Joe Biden spoke on the phone earlier today about ongoing attacks against naval and merchant vessels, the White House said.

They also discussed trying to secure the release of hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza, the US added.

Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, said the latest attacks would “deal another blow” to the Houthis’ “limited stockpiles and ability to threaten global trade”.

The risk has always been mission-creep

This is the second major wave of airstrikes carried out by American and British forces on Houthi targets in Yemen in under a fortnight.

The first was intended as a firm punch on the nose, and although the hope was that it would be enough to stop further attacks on Red Sea shipping, few believed that would be the case.

It wasn’t to be so. The Houthis have continued targeting shipping, albeit it at a lower rate than before.

Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak spoke on the phone on Monday evening, but the readout gave few clues about the imminent action.

The risk has always been mission creep, and the two countries being drawn into something they cannot stop.

The strikes on Monday evening show that London and Washington are committed to the operation, at least in the immediate term, but there are many indications this is precisely what the Houthis want – to drag the West in and show the Arab world they are the ones taking on the big powers.

Neither the US nor the UK has articulated an end game but they are now knee deep in a conflict – the Houthis can, and probably will, continue launching cheap drones at ships, while Britain and America will be compelled to hit back with expensive ordnance.

They might have moral, legal and commercial justification but this new phase of operations will trigger more questions about the overall strategy.

Earlier this month, British and American forces bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iran-backed militia in retaliatory strikes following the Red Sea attacks.

The group had defied a warning to stop.

After the first attacks involving British forces, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said “particular care was taken to minimise any risks to civilians” and “any such risks were mitigated further by the decision to conduct the strikes during the night”.

Tonight’s attacks were also carried out under the cover of darkness.

Yemeni press agency, SABA, reported earlier this month that the first UK/US attacks took place in the capital, Sanaa, and the governorates of Sadah, Hodeidah, Taiz, and Dhamar.

A Houthi official said the initial attacks killed at least five people and wounded six, adding that they would not go “unanswered”.

The US subsequently launched another strike against a Houthi target in Yemen.

Lord Cameron, the foreign secretary, has said the actions of the Houthis were “effectively terrorist attacks”, adding: “If you don’t act against the Houthis in the Red Sea, you are going to see more attacks.”

World

Nicusor Dan beats hard-right favourite George Simion in surprise win in Romanian election

Published

2 hours ago

May 18, 2025

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Nicusor Dan beats hard-right favourite George Simion in surprise win in Romanian election

Pro-Western candidate Nicusor Dan has unexpectedly beaten hard-right populist George Simion in the Romanian presidential election.

Mr Simion, 38, and his rival – a centrist who’s mayor of Bucharest – faced off in the second round of the contest.

According to the official tally, Mr Dan was leading by nearly nine percentage points with more than 98% of the votes counted.

After exit polls suggested he wasn’t going to win, Trump-supporting Mr Simion rejected the result and said estimates put him 400,000 votes ahead.

Speaking after voting ended, Mr Simion said his election was “clear” as he posted on Facebook: “I won!!! I am the new President of Romania and I am giving back the power to the Romanians!”

Romania’s last election was annulled after its highest court ruled the leading candidate, nationalist Calin Georgescu, should be disqualified due to claims of electoral interference by Russia.

The result is surprising because in the first round, 38-year-old Mr Simion, founder of the right-wing Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), took 40.96% of the vote – almost 20 points ahead.

An opinion poll on Friday had it much closer, but still suggested the two men were virtually tied.

Mr Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician, is running as an independent and has pledged to clamp down on corruption.

He is also staunchly pro-EU and NATO, and has said Romania’s support for Ukraine is vital for its own security.

When voting closed at 9pm local time, 11.6 million people – about 64% of eligible voters – had cast ballots. About 1.64 million Romanians living abroad also took part.

The election is being closely watched across Europe amid a rise of support for President Donald Trump.

After polls closed, Mr Dan said “elections are not about politicians” but about communities and that in the latest vote “a community of Romanians has won, a community that wants a profound change in Romania”.

“When Romania goes through difficult times, let us remember the strength of this Romanian society,” he said.

“There is also a community that lost today’s elections. A community that is rightly outraged by the way politics has been conducted in Romania up to now.”

World

Israel to allow ‘basic quantity of food’ into Gaza to avoid ‘starvation crisis’

Published

3 hours ago

May 18, 2025

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Israel to allow 'basic quantity of food' into Gaza to avoid 'starvation crisis'

Israel has said it will allow a “basic quantity of food” into the besieged enclave of Gaza to avoid a “starvation crisis” following a near three-month blockade.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was “based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas”.

Gaza, where local authorities say more than 53,000 people have died in Israel’s 19-month campaign, has been under a complete blockade on humanitarian aid since 2 March.

It comes as global food security experts warn of famine across the territory and after a UN-backed report issued last Monday which warned one in five people in Gaza were facing starvation.

The statement from the prime minister’s office said it would “allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip”.

“Such a crisis would endanger the continuation of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ to defeat Hamas,” it added.

“Israel will act to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian assistance in order to ensure that the assistance does not reach the Hamas terrorists.”

It comes after a British surgeon working in Gaza said in a video to Sky News the enclave is now “a slaughterhouse” amid Israeli bombardment.

Israel has just ramped up its offensive in Gaza, with Palestinian health officials reporting at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed troops had begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.

In a statement on Sunday, IDF said its air force struck “over 670 Hamas terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip to disrupt enemy preparations and support ground operations” over the past week.

Israel has launched an escalation to increase pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.

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British surgeon working in Gaza says it is now ‘a slaughterhouse’ amid Israeli bombardment

Published

10 hours ago

May 18, 2025

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British surgeon working in Gaza says it is now 'a slaughterhouse' amid Israeli bombardment

A British surgeon working in southern Gaza has compared the region to a “slaughterhouse” because of the daily bombardment from Israeli forces.

Dr Tom Potokar, who is based at the European Hospital near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, offered his assessment of Israel’s military offensive after Palestinian health officials reported at least 130 people were killed overnight into Sunday.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have confirmed their troops have begun “extensive ground operations throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip”.

In a video, Dr Potokar said it was “another day of devastation here in Gaza”, adding: “The stories coming from the north… absolutely horrific… particularly around the Indonesian Hospital.”

“I mean, it’s difficult to describe in words what’s happening here… [with the] constant sound of bombardment jets overhead.

“If Cambodia was the killing fields, then Gaza now is the slaughterhouse.”

His reference to Cambodia’s killing fields refers to when more than a million people were murdered in mass executions and buried by the extreme communist guerrilla group, the Khmer Rouge, under Pol Pot, between 1975 and 1979.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 464 people had died in Israeli military strikes in the week to Sunday.

Dr Potokar described the impact on those on the ground, saying: “We’ve been operating all morning so far and [treating] awful explosive injuries… [including] one young woman with leg fracture and shoulder fracture and a large wound on her buttock, who came in yesterday and is not yet aware that everyone in our family was killed in the onslaught.”

Israel has launched an escalation of its war in Gaza to ramp up pressure on Hamas, seize territory, displace Palestinians to the south and take greater control over the distribution of aid.

On Sunday, it announced and launched “extensive” new ground operations in Gaza.

It came after airstrikes killed more than 100 people, including dozens of children, overnight and into Sunday, hospitals and medics said, and forced northern Gaza’s main hospital to close.

A spokesperson for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said: “Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by Israeli bombardment”.

The ministry also said the bombardment had forced the closure of the Indonesian Hospital, the main hospital serving people in northern Gaza.

Nasser hospital, in the southern city of Khan Younis, said more than 48 people – mostly women and children – were killed in the area which includes tents sheltering displaced people.

In Deir al Balah, in central Gaza, at least 12 people were killed in three separate strikes, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and the Nuseirat camp’s Awda Hospital.

Meanwhile, the Gaza health ministry and the Palestinian Civil Defence – which operates under the Hamas-run government – reported that 19 people were killed in several strikes in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strikes.

Read more from Sky News:
How Israel has escalated Gaza bombing campaign

Ceasefire talks are taking place in Qatar this weekend – with Israel saying they involve discussions on ending the war as well as a truce and hostage deal.

A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any lasting truce must include the demilitarisation of Gaza as well as the exile of Hamas militants.

But a senior Israeli official added there had been little progress so far during talks in Qatar’s capital Doha.

Sky News Arabia reported Hamas had proposed freeing about half its Israeli hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

A Palestinian official close to the discussions said: “Hamas is flexible about the number of hostages it can free, but the problem has always been over Israel’s commitment to end the war.”