The British army is preparing to launch a wave of airstrikes against the Houthis, the British The Times reported. American and British planes will participate in the attack.
According to the plans, the UK would join the US and possibly another European country in firing a barrage of missiles at pre-planned targets, either at sea or in Yemen itself, where the Houthis are based.
A Whitehall source said the coordinated strikes could for the first time involve RAF warplanes or HMS Diamond, the Type 45 destroyer which successfully destroyed a Sea Viper missile attack drone in the Red Sea earlier this month.
It is understood that Britain and the US will issue an unprecedented statement in the coming hours warning the Houthis to stop attacking commercial vessels or face Western military might.
“If the Houthis continue to threaten lives and trade, we will be forced to take the necessary and appropriate measures,” British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said.
A Whitehall source said the statement was a “final warning” and if the Houthis did not stop the attacks, the response was likely to be “limited” but “significant”. The allies are now believed to be trying to persuade other European countries to work with the US and Britain to stop the attacks amid fears there could be catastrophic economic implications if shipping transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes continues to be disrupted.
The source could not confirm which aircraft could be used in the planned retaliation, although the UK has Typhoons based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, which are currently flying missions over Iraq and Syria. They are there to find any remnants of Isil, although The Times revealed this month that the mission has expanded to spying on an Iran-backed militia believed to be smuggling weapons into Lebanon.
The Houthis, who control much of Yemen and are an ally of Hamas, have carried out a series of attacks on commercial shipping since the beginning of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to a Whitehall source, eight of the 20 ships attacked in the 30 days before Christmas were either registered in the UK, had British nationals on board or were carrying goods bound for the UK.
In response to the attacks, Washington launched a multinational force to protect vessels passing through the waterways, although allies are concerned that the number of hostile actions continues to increase.
Ministers are concerned that “the number of attacks is increasing and the feeling that something has to be done,” the source said, adding that insurance for ships had increased tenfold in December and that voyages had been delayed, disrupting supply lines, according to The Times.
