BRITAIN has joined the United States for the first time in carrying out air strikes on the forces of Yemen’s Houthi government, officials confirmed today, marking the first RAF participation in Washington’s intensified attack on the country.

A US-led offensive has seen over 800 strikes since mid-March in retaliation for Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, which began in November 2023.

In a statement aired on Houthi-run Almasirah TV, the group warned that Britain should “anticipate the consequences of its aggression.”

Britain’s Ministry of Defence described the targeted site as “a cluster of buildings, used by the Houthis to manufacture drones of the type used to attack ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, located some 15 miles south of Sanaa.”

The site, located around 15 miles south of the capital Sanaa, was hit after dark by RAF Typhoon FGR4s, which dropped Paveway IV guided bombs. 

“The strike was conducted after dark, when the likelihood of any civilians being in the area was reduced yet further,” it said.

No casualty figures or assessments of damage were released. 

The US military’s Central Command has not acknowledged the strike. 

British Defence Secretary John Healey sought to defend the attack as a response to the Houthis’ threat to international shipping and Britain’s economy, saying: “A 55 per cent drop in shipping through the Red Sea has already cost billions, fuelling regional instability and risking economic security for families in the UK.”

But Britain’s Stop the War Coalition condemned the bombing, with convener Lindsey German saying: “It is not Yemen and the Houthis who are causing the regional instability and risking economic security for families in the UK.

“It’s the British government arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza that’s bringing us ever closer to war in the Middle East and the slashing of benefits to fund massive increases in defence spending that is pushing families and the most vulnerable further into poverty at home.” 

The Houthis said multiple strikes had  areas around Sanaa and the northern city of Saada.

The latest operation follows a reported US air strike on Monday that killed at least 68 African migrants and wounded 47 others at a detention facility in Yemen. 

The US military has said it is investigating.

On April 18, a separate US strike on the Ras Isa fuel port killed at least 74 people and injured 171 more — the deadliest known attack of the campaign so far.