Overnight strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen by the UK and the US were an act of self-defence, Britain’s armed forces minister James Heappey told Times Radio on Friday.
The UK junior defence minister said the Royal Navy continues to want to protect shipping and that more action would be considered on an indiviual basis, reports Reuters. He would not confirm whether more strikes were planned but said that the warning to the Houthis remained in place, stating: “We’ll see over the course of the next few days whether the attacks stop.”
“Our action and the action of the Americans last night was in self-defence in order to defend against further attacks on our warships as they go about their legal and reasonable business,” Heappey said. “Of course we have an eye on the need to make sure it doesn’t cause a regional escalation,” he added.
Heappey described the strikes as a proportionate response to the crisis in the Red Sea. There was a need to see whether commercial shipping feels reassured, he said, adding that there would be an opportunity when parliament returns for the issue to be debated.
He also said that it was the case that Iranian aligned grouping across the Middle East have been very active in the last two months.
Asked about criticism from some political opponents that parliament was not given the chance to discuss the military intervention in advance, Heappey said:
The prime minister needs to make decisions such as these based on the military, strategic and operational requirements – that led to the timing. Obviously parliament is not scheduled to speak today, but there will be an opportunity when parliament returns for these things to be fully discussed and debated.
Source: The Guardian
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