Britain ‘considering airstrikes’ on Houthi rebels after Red Sea attacks
Britain is reportedly considering airstrikes on Houthi rebels after the US said its navy sank three boats that had been targeting a container ship in the Red Sea.
Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, said the government would not hesitate to take “direct action” to prevent further attacks amid reports the UK and US are preparing a joint statement to issue a final warning to the Yemeni group.
It comes after the US military said four boats from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen fired at the Maersk Hangzhou and came within metres of the vessel as US helicopters fired back.
Several crews on the armed Houthi boats were killed, the US Central Command (Centcom) said. No one was injured on the ship.
Writing in the Telegraph, Shapps said the UK “won’t hesitate to take further action to deter threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea”.
“The Houthis should be under no misunderstanding: we are committed to holding malign actors accountable for unlawful seizures and attacks,” he said.
In terms of realpolitik: I’m honestly shocked it’s taken this long.
That’s not an endorsement or statement of support, to be clear.
I think they’re being really cautious with the state of the world atm.
Putin sure wants people to focus on some other conflicts. Wars are a lot easier to win one at a time.
Imagine having to go to WW3 for fucking Israel.
Yeah I'd rather not. They can fuck their own wars.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, said the government would not hesitate to take “direct action” to prevent further attacks amid reports the UK and US are preparing a joint statement to issue a final warning to the Yemeni group.
This month a Royal Navy destroyer joined international efforts to deter attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.
Multiple reports have said the UK is weighing up the possibility of an armed response as the Iran-backed Houthis claim attacks on ships in the Red Sea that they say are either linked to Israel or heading to Israeli ports.
“I spoke to [Amir-Abdollahian] today about Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, which threaten innocent lives and the global economy,” Lord Cameron said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Singapore-flagged Maersk Hangzhou reported that it had already been hit by a missile on Saturday night while crossing the southern Red Sea and requested assistance, Centcom said in a statement.
On Saturday, the top commander of US naval forces in the Middle East said Houthi rebels have shown no signs of ending their “reckless” attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, even as more nations join the international maritime mission to protect vessels in the vital waterway and trade traffic begins to pick up.
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if you think this is bad you should see the gulf of arden
Great let's just start another war why not
The Houthi's are the ones launching missiles at passing ships as well as assaulting them and taking hostages. That would be a declaration of war anywhere else. This really isn't a case of the west "just starting another war"
This take conveniently ignores past problems that the west brought upon the people of these lands. A tale as old as the crusades.
That's cool and all but I don't think justifying terrorism by pointing back to events in the 1300s is particularly convincing. Literally every country and ethnic group has past grievances, but we can't just constantly re-open them by killing the great-grandchildren of oppressors, and we shouldn't excuse those that do.
It's not just the 1300s. Its been the same shit since the 1300s.
Colonialism isn't isolated to the past. Europeans need to acknowledge their wealth and prosperity was mainly obtained through colonialism.
This is an escalation of Israel's war on Palestinians, not an unrelated conflict.
In that Iran is trying to widen the conflict, sure. Practically speaking it's a separatist group in an unrelated country terrorizing a shipping lane.
International commerce affects all of us. It's not like those ships were carrying regional goods. You can't just let those attacks go unchecked. Do you have to destroy civilian population centers? No. But you can't just ignore the attacks and expect them to go away.
Their intent is only to target Israel bound shipping. A direct result of Israel's destroying of civilian population centers. And our unconditional support for that is dragging us into another endless conflict.