LONDON, January 14. /TASS/: London is ready to support the United States in repeated airstrikes on the positions of Yemen's Ansar Allah (Houthi) rebels, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said.
"We have sent an unambiguous message: what the Houthis are doing is wrong, and we are determined to put a stop to it. We will work with allies. We wil always defend the freedom of navigation. And, crucially, we will be prepared to back words with actions," Cameron wrote in an article published in The Sunday Telegraph.
The top diplomat pointed out that London and Washington "did not rush into these strikes" and had repeatedly warned the Houthis of the consequences of attacking ships in the Red Sea.
"The Houthi contention that this is all about Israel and Gaza is nonsense. They've attacked ships from countries all over the world, heading to destinations right across the globe. Our joint action will have gone some way to degrade Houthi capabilities built up with Iranian backing. We targeted sites from which we know their attacks were launched. We will carefully assess the impact of what has been done," Cameron added.
In the early morning hours of January 12, UK and UK forces attacked Houthi targets in a number of Yemeni cities, including Dhamar, Saada, Sana'a, Taiz and Hodeidah. US President Joe Biden said that the strike on Yemen was ordered in response to "unprecedented Houthi attacks" in the Red Sea and that the strikes targeting Houthi munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems were delivered "in self-defense." On January 13, a naval base near the Red Sea port of Hodeidah came under attack. The aircraft carrier USS Carney struck an airfield north of the Yemeni capital with Tomahawk missiles.
After the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory and would not allow ships associated with it to pass through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until the operation in the Palestinian enclave stopped. According to estimates by US Central Command, the Houthis have attacked more than 20 vessels and civilian ships in the Red Sea since mid-November.
