The UK Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday, 20 October, that Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters will be deployed to Saudi Arabia to fly defensive counter-air missions. The jets are meant to help protect Saudi cities and critical national infrastructure against aerial attack. The ministry stressed that the Typhoons will not take part in offensive strikes against the Houthis, the Iran-backed militia fighting the Saudi-backed Yemeni government. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting condemned the attacks in a statement.
“The continuing attacks from the Houthis on our ally Saudi Arabia are absolutely despicable.”
Streeting said the Typhoons will be used to protect Saudi airspace from drones and missiles. Britain will also send an Atlas A400M transport aircraft, which will carry the equipment, along with military advisers, though the number of advisers was not specified. In September, the UK agreed to a Saudi request for air-to-air refuelling of the kingdom's jets, and Streeting said that mission will run for another 90 days. Streeting presented the new deployment as a continuation of existing British support, saying:
“This builds on the UK equipment and personnel we already have in the country to defend against Houthi air attacks.”
The articles do not give the number of fighter jets being deployed or how long the Typhoon mission is expected to last.
The Houthis have been launching ballistic missile strikes on Saudi Arabia for the past few weeks, and POLITICO reported that three airports were hit earlier this month. An attack on Riyadh airport on 10 October killed 13 or 14 people, depending on the report, and injured hundreds more. RTP said the airport was closed after that attack and called the death toll the gravest in more than ten years on Saudi soil. Der Tagesspiegel reported that the Houthis had also struck the east-west pipeline and taken control of the Yemeni coast near the Bab al-Mandab strait, from which they threaten Saudi shipping. On Monday, 58 people were killed in a Houthi attack on a training camp in Yemen, according to authorities cited by the newspaper.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been in Downing Street since July, and POLITICO reports he has offered Saudi Arabia more support since then. Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition that has fought the Houthis for several years. Der Tagesspiegel notes that Saudi airstrikes in Yemen have frequently killed civilians, according to Houthi claims. The Ministry of Defence tied the Gulf conflict to conditions at home, pointing to disrupted energy supplies and a subsequent rise in the cost of living in the UK.
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The Ministry of Defence said the jets will fly only defensive missions, while a transport aircraft and military advisers also head to the kingdom after a spike in Houthi strikes.
AI text based on reports by The New York Times, Deutsche Welle, POLITICO and other publishers. Published .