UK joins US in airstrikes against Houthi rebels

British fighter jets on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, joined their US counterparts in airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels overnight.

According to online media reports, this is the first military action authorized by the Labour government and the first UK participation in an aggressive American bombing campaign against the group.

RAF Typhoons, refuelled by Voyager air tankers, targeted a cluster of buildings 15 miles south of the capital, Sana’a.

The UK claims these buildings were used by the Houthis to manufacture drones that had targeted shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The British defence secretary, John Healey, said the attack was launched in response to “a persistent threat from the Houthis to freedom of navigation”.

The Iran-backed group has attacked merchant shipping and western warships, leading to a sharp drop in trade flows.

“A 55% drop in shipping through the Red Sea has already cost billions, fuelling regional instability and risking economic security for families in the UK,” Healey added in a social media post shortly after midnight.

Further updates were expected from the UK later on Wednesday.

Britain had joined with the US to conduct five rounds of airstrikes against the Houthis between January and May 2024.

This is part of a campaign authorized by the Biden administration.

However, it has not been involved in a fresh and more intense US effort until now.

Since the launch on March 15, of Operation Rough Rider, under the Trump administration, 800 targets have been struck resulting in the deaths of “hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders.

The US military’s Central Command disclosed this on Wednesday.

There have also been reports of higher civilian casualties.

This week, the Houthis said 68 people were killed when a detention centre holding African migrants was struck in Saada, north-west Yemen.

It also mentioned that 80 civilians were reported to have died in an attack on the port of Ras Isa on April 18.

Annie Shiel, the US director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict (Civic), said the “US strikes continue to raise significant questions about the precautions taken to prevent civilian harm, as required by both international law and US policy”.

She also noted that there appeared to have been a shift in policy under Donald Trump.

Overnight on Tuesday, the UK said it had taken steps to minimize the risk of civilian casualties.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Houthi buildings were targeted with Paveway IV missiles once.

It noted that “very careful planning had been completed to allow the targets to be prosecuted with minimal risk to civilians or non-military infrastructure”.

The MoD also emphasised that “as a further precaution, the strike was conducted after dark, when the likelihood of any civilians being in the area was reduced yet further”.

Though no damage assessment was offered.

There was little immediate comment from the US.

Though the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, has emphasised that the American military must emphasise “lethality, lethality, lethality”.

Also, he has cut programmes intended to minimise civilian harm.

News agencies said the Houthis reported several strikes around Sana’a, which the group has held since 2014.

But there were few other details immediately available.

Other strikes hit the area around Saada.

The Houthis are targeting shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in support of Hamas and the Palestinians in Gaza, subject of a renewed offensive by Israel.

Though the US boasts considerably more firepower than the group, a $60m (£45m) US navy F-18 Super Hornet jet was lost at sea on Tuesday.

US officials said initial reports from the scene indicated the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier, on to which the F-18 was being towed, made a hard turn to evade Houthi fire.

That contributed to the fighter jet falling overboard and sinking.

The start of Operation Rough Rider caused controversy in the US over Hegseth’s use of the unclassified Signal messaging app to post sensitive details about the attacks, including a group containing a journalist.

For Diaspora Digital Media Updates click on Whatsapp, or Telegram. For eyewitness accounts/ reports/ articles, write to: citizenreports@diasporadigitalmedia.com. Follow us on X (Fomerly Twitter) or Facebook