Another Royal Navy warship is travelling to the Red Sea following warnings there will “almost certainly” be strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The type 23 frigate HMS Richmond left Gibraltar on Wednesday after Admiral Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, said the UK has to show the Iran-backed group that “enough is enough”.
Lord West told TalkTV: “We can’t just sit there shooting down missiles and drones being fired at our warships and peaceful merchant ships, most of which have nothing to do with Israel at all, and we can’t just sit there letting them take pot shots. We’ve got to make it clear to them that this is not allowed.
“They can’t disrupt world trade in this way and I think if someone fires missiles at you from a site, that site is perfectly valid as a target for you.”
HMS Diamond shot down Houthi drones and missiles with Sea Viper missiles, which travel three times the speed of sound.
The US Navy shot down 21 missiles and drones and US fighter jets were also involved in the operation. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said there was “no doubt” Tehran was providing weapons and intelligence for attacks.
Shapps told Sky News: “We must be clear with the Houthis that this has to stop and that is my simple message to them today: Watch this space’.
“My understanding is that both the ship itself potentially was targeted … but also that there’s a generalised attack on all shipping (in the region).”
He called the rebel’s attack “the largest to date” and that the UK had taken action to “protect innocent lives and the global economy”.
The rebels say their assaults are aimed at stopping Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip. But their targets are increasingly random, raising the risk of a US retaliatory strike on Yemen.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding “that the Houthis immediately cease all such attacks, which impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security”.
