Britain vows to continue campaign to degrade Houthi capabilities

Britain on Tuesday vowed to keep hampering the ability of Yemen’s Houthis to attack Red Sea shipping, following the latest joint-US strikes on the Iran-backed militia.

Speaking before Parliament, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the UK would act again if the Houthis persist in attacking shipping in the Red Sea.

“We are not seeking a confrontation,” he told parliament after American and UK forces struck Houthi targets on Monday, in fresh round of joint military action after a first wave of strikes against the militia earlier this month.

“We urge the Houthis and those who enable them to stop these illegal and unacceptable attacks.

“But if necessary, the United Kingdom will not hesitate to respond in self-defense. We cannot stand by and allow these attacks to go unchallenged.”

Sunak also said that Britain plans to announce new sanctions in the coming days targeting Houthi finances.

“We’re going to use the most effective means at our disposal to cut off the Houthi’s financial resources, where they are used to fund these attacks,” Sunak told parliament.

“We are working closely with the United States on this and plan to announce new sanctions measures in the coming days.”

Sunak’s comments echoed those made by Foreign Minister David Cameron earlier on Tuesday.

“Since we last took action 10 days ago, there have been over 12 attacks on shipping by the Houthis in the Red Sea,” Cameron told broadcasters.

“These attacks are illegal. They are unacceptable.

“What we have done again is send the clearest possible message that we will continue to degrade their ability to carry out these attacks... [and] that we back our words and our warnings with action,” Cameron, who Sunak said would visit the Middle East this week, added.

The latest US-UK strikes were against “eight Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the Houthis’ continued attacks on international and commercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea,” Washington and London said in a joint statement with other countries that supported the military action.

“These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners,” the statement said.

Since the first joint strikes, the United States has also launched individual air raids against missiles that Washington said posed imminent threats to both civilian and military vessels.

But the Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks -- just one part of a growing crisis in the Middle East linked to the Israel-Hamas war, which has raised tensions across the region as well as fears of a broader war directly involving Iran.

The Houthis warned on Tuesday that the US, UK strikes would not go “unanswered and unpunished.”