Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen vow ‘unimaginable’ revenge after night of heavy air strikes by US and UK forces

Iran-backed rebels in Yemen vowed to enact “unimaginable” revenge on the West after UK and US forces, supported by Australia, carried out air strikes.

The Iran-backed Houthis rebel group has vowed “unimaginable” revenge in the wake of the US and UK’s overnight blitz on their military bases in Yemen.

The furious militants called the coalition strikes that hit 60 military targets and killed five of their fighters an act of “war” as a full-blown conflict threatens to explode in the region.

Western coalition forces smashed dozens of military targets, including an air base, airport and army camp in what British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called “ a proportion action of self-defence”.

Mr Sunak said the UK needs to send a “strong signal” that the Houthi rebel attacks are wrong and cannot be carried out with “impunity”.

He said: “Our aim is very clear, it’s to de-escalate tensions and restore stability to the region.”

Blasts rocked vast parts of Houthi-controlled Yemen.

The moment a Royal Air Force Typhoon launches a precision strike on a Houthi military target in Yemen last night. Picture: UK Ministry of Defence

US President Joe Biden hailed the air strikes on sites used by the Iran-backed militia group a “success” – but added he would “not hesitate” to launch more.

It’s the first time strikes have been launched against Houthis since they began wreaking havoc on international shipping in the Red Sea in mid-November.

And it marks a dramatic escalation in the crisis that for weeks has been threatening to ignite an all-out war across the region over Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.

The Houthis announced that five militants were killed and six injured by the overnight assaults.

Their furious forces have vowed to retaliate to a scale “beyond the imagination” and told the US and Britain they had made a “huge mistake launching the war in Yemen”.

Houthi spokesman Muhammad Al-Bukhaiti also added on Al-Arabi TV that “American interests will be a target for our forces wherever they are”.

An image released by the British Ministry of Defence shows a RAF Typhoon aircraft taking part in air strikes against military targets in Yemen.

Mr Sunak said: “Despite the repeated warnings from the international community, the Houthis have continued to carry out attacks in the Red Sea, including against UK and US warships just this week.

“This cannot stand. The United Kingdom will always stand up for freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade.”

Iran fumed that the strikes on Yemen were a “clear violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and a violation of international laws.

The attacks “will have no result other than fuelling insecurity and instability in the region,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said.

Iran’s terror proxies and Houthi allies, Hezbollah and Hamas, have both condemned the strikes and blamed the US and UK for escalating the conflict.

Today, the UK’s Ministry of Defence released dramatic footage of the moment RAF Typhoons conducted precision strikes on two Houthi military targets.

Mr Sunak said the “targeted strikes” were “limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence”.

Yemen's Houthis rebels seized a cargo ship in the southern Red Sea.

They followed soon after masked gunmen in military uniforms stormed the St Nikolas – a Greek-owned 900ft tanker carrying 145,000 tons of crude oil – and ordered it to sail to Iran.

Iran’s navy said the seizure was in retaliation for the ship and oil it had aboard being confiscated by the US last year.

Last night, US Air Force Lt Gen Alex Grynkewich said they had “executed deliberate strikes on over 60 targets at 16 Iranian-backed Houthi militant locations, including command and control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities and air defence radar systems.”

More than 100 precision-guided munitions including Tomahawk missiles launched from warships were used to hit Yemen’s capital Sanaa as well as Hudaydah, the Houthi Red Sea port stronghold, and other locations.

The US and UK said the aerial attacks were intended to disrupt and degrade the militants’ threat to global trade following weeks of drone and missile attacks on cargo ships in the region.

The Ministry of Defence said four RAF Typhoon FGR4s, supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker used Paveway IV guided bombs to conduct precision strikes on two Houthi facilities.

The US and UK are conducting joint strikes within Yemen. Picture: The Sun

One was a site at Bani in northwestern Yemen, used to launch reconnaissance and attack drones, while the other location struck by the RAF was the airfield at Abbs.

It is understood F-35B Lightning stealth jets based at RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus, were involved while recon jets were spotted flying over Saudi Arabia last night.

British drones equipped with lethal Hellfire missiles were also primed.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said: “The threat to innocent lives and global trade has become so great that this action was not only necessary, it was our duty to protect vessels and freedom of navigation.”

Houthi spokesman Nasr Aldeen Amer told Sky News his group would respond.

“A brutal aggression against our country, for which they [the attackers] will pay absolutely and without hesitation, and we will not back down from our position in supporting the Palestinian people, whatever the cost,” he said.

Strikes were carried out with the support of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed. Denmark, Germany, New Zealand and South Korea also assisted.

Huthi fighters brandish their weapons during a protest following US and British forces strikes in the Huthi-controlled capital Sanaa. Picture: AFP

Huge explosions rang out across 16 locations in Yemen overnight. Picture: Sky News

Mr Biden said military action was a “direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels”.

He added that it sent a “clear message” that the US and its partners will not tolerate attacks which have been crippling international shipping.

On Tuesday, British and US warships shot down a barrage of 18 drones and three cruise and anti-ship ballistic missiles fired towards the Red Sea in the Houthis largest attack so far.

Royal Navy destroyer HMS Diamond blasted seven of the drones out of the sky and Defence Secretary Shapps says the warship was “deliberately targeted”.

The US and Britain had both warned that the group faced “consequences” for Tuesday’s attack.

Iranian protesters in Tehran burn an Israeli and a US flag during a demonstration with Iran-backed Yemeni rebels. Picture: AFP

General Michael Erik Kurilla, United States Central Command Commander, said: “We hold the Houthi militants and their destabilising Iranian sponsors responsible for the illegal, indiscriminate, and reckless attacks on international shipping that have impacted 55 nations so far, including endangering the lives of hundreds of mariners, including the United States.

“Their illegal and dangerous actions will not be tolerated, and they will be held accountable.”

The plans were finalised yesterday following meetings of the Prime Minister’s National Security Council and the emergency committee Cobra.

This story originally appeared on The Sun and is reproduced here with permission.