The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have vowed to target all British warships entering the Red Sea ‘in self-defence’ as tensions in the Middle East continue to rise.
Ameen Hayyan, the group’s military spokesman also announced US ships would be targeted too. He said: “All American and British warships in the Red [Sea] will be targeted within the right of legitimate defence of our country.”
He claimed that all ‘aggressive’ US and UK warships against Yemen would be targets of the attacks.
Since the new year, the Yemen-based militia group have been launching attacks on cargo ships and other vessels traversing the Red Sea near to Yemen. The group claims they have been targetting ships which are Israeli-owned, flagged or operated in protest of the war in Gaza.
However, many of the vessels which have been targeted have nothing to do with Israel.
The news comes as The Royal Navy is preparing to send an aircraft carrier to the Red Sea to drop the drone and missile attacks by Houthi rebels.
The Navy is expected step in to replace the USS Dwight D Eisenhower when it returns to the US. James Heappey, the armed forces minister, said: “The fact is the Eisenhower can’t stay there forever. And so there’s a thing about just maintaining a carrier presence in the region where we might cooperate with the Americans to provide a capability there.”
The UK has two aircraft carriers deisgned to carry F-35 fighter jets – HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth – with only the latter having been sent into combat once before.
The Houthis have already warned of a ‘long-term confrontation’ in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, throwing world trade into chaos and forcing companies to take massive detours round the Cape of Good Hope.
The latest threat from the Houthi rebels comes just hours after the group fired ‘several’ missiles at a US warship, just after the US military also claimed to have shot down a missile. The latest in a long line of attacks in the Red Sea.
The Houthi statement said: “The naval forces of the Yemeni Armed Forces, with the help of God Almighty, fired several … naval missiles at the American destroyer USS Gravely in the Red Sea.”
