PEACE campaigners united today to condemn the “outrageous aggression” of Britain and the US in launching another wave of bombings on Yemen at the weekend.

The Nato allies said they struck 36 targets in Yemen in a third wave of assaults against what they allege to be Iranian-backed groups responsible for attacks on shipping linked to Israel or its allies in the wake of the war on Gaza.

US Central Command said its forces conducted an additional strike today “in self-defence against a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea,” according to a post on Twitter/X.

The strikes on Saturday against the Yemenis were launched by US warships and US and British fighter jets. 

The strikes followed an air assault on Iraq and Syria on Friday that targeted other local militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan last weekend.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron slammed the Yemenis as “reckless,” saying their “attacks must stop.”

He said Houthi actions have been “putting innocent lives at risk, threatening freedom of navigation and destabilising the region.”

A spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi-led government, Yahya Saree, said the capital Sana’a and other rebel-held areas were targeted.

Mr Saree said on X that “these attacks will not deter us from our stance in support of the steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” which Israel invaded late in October following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

He said the latest strikes “will not pass without response and punishment.”

Top Yemeni diplomat Mohammed Abdulsalam said that the attacks by Washington and London will only serve to pull them into a quagmire in the region.

“Instead of escalating and opening a new war front in the region, America and Britain should listen to international public opinion, which is calling for an immediate halt to the Israeli aggression, lifting the siege on Gaza, and ending protection to Israel at the expense of the Palestinian people,” he said.

The bombings have sparked a wave of criticism from peace campaigners in Britain and in the US.

Stop the War Coalition convener Lindsey German said: “This is the third Middle East country bombed by the US in as many days.

“Invasion and occupation of Iraq hasn’t worked, bombing of Libya and Syria didn’t work and this is not going to do anything but escalate the war in the Middle East.”

Ms German said that instead of continuing to inflame tensions in the region, the US and Britain “should demand a ceasefire in Gaza to end the genocide there.” 

She added: “It should pull out its troops which have no right to be there and allow the people of the region to decide their future. And it should stop arming and supporting Israel.”

CND general secretary Kate Hudson said: “Only a political settlement will bring peace to this region. Bombing Yemen will not end their support for the Palestinian cause. Only a ceasefire in Gaza and the establishment of a free and sovereign Palestine will bring peace for all.” 

Ms Hudson added: “You can not bomb away people’s solidarity, humanity, and determination to live in freedom and dignity. That is a mistake too often made by oppressors.”

Communist Party general secretary Robert Griffiths said: “British and US imperialism have inflicted nothing but exploitation, mass murder and forced migration to Yemen, Palestine, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Those peoples have every right to drive the Western powers from the region, supported by everyone who rejects the warmongering policies of the British Tory government and its loyal Labour collaborators..”

And Manolo De Los Santos, co-executive director of the New York-based People’s Forum, told the Morning Star: “The US air strikes against Yemen are an outrageous act of aggression aimed at helping Israel continue its genocidal assault on Gaza.” 

He added: “The US empire feels its grip on the Middle East slipping and it’s lashing out in Yemen, in Syria, and in Iraq. The danger of a catastrophic regional war is growing because of Biden’s escalation.”

Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn accused the US and Britain of being complicit in continuing the conflict in Gaza through the continued sale of arms “despite the ICJ interim judgement.” 

He said: “Nearly 30,000 have already been killed and thousands are at risk of death from hunger, thirst and lack of sanitation.”

Mr Corbyn added: “Millions around the world are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to save lives and prevent war spreading.”

The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll in Gaza was now more than 27,365 Palestinians and 66,630 had been wounded.

Most of the casualties are women and children.

Thousands are still missing, either trapped or killed under the rubble of bombed-out buildings.

As fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters raged in Gaza and the West Bank, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set out his government’s key demands for ending the war on the Palestinians.

He told journalists ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv: “The essential goal is, first of all, the elimination of Hamas. To achieve this goal, three things are needed.

“The first requirement is the collapse of Hamas’s battalions. 

“After the battalions are destroyed, the Israeli military will have to carry out clearance operations to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its terrorist army.”

Finally, Mr Netanyahu said, Israel will need to complete “the neutralisation of the underground [tunnels], as our forces are systematically doing in Khan Younis and in all parts of the Strip, and this requires more time.”