The UK is prepared to strike Houthi rebels in Yemen again if they keep attacking ships in the Red Sea, Lord David Cameron hinted on Saturday.
The foreign secretary said the UK will “always defend the freedom of navigation” and “will be prepared to back words with actions.”
On Jan. 11, U.S. and British naval forces struck a number of Houthi targets across Yemen, with “non-operational support” from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain. The United States struck another site in Yemen on Saturday.
“We have not rushed into these strikes. As well as assembling and deploying a naval task force, we have given warning after warning,” he wrote.
The foreign secretary said 44 countries had spoken out before Christmas and he had spoken directly to his Iranian counterpart and “left them in no doubt” that the UK would “have to take action” if they keep attacking merchant and commercial shipping.
However, the Houthis launched 21 drones and missiles at British Royal Navy’s HMS Diamond and U.S. ships on Jan. 9, Lord Cameron said.
He also said the Royal Air Force “took particular care to avoid civilian casualties—in sharp contrast to how Houthi drones have threatened the lives of civilians of all nationalities working in the shipping industry.”
Lord Cameron said freedom of navigation has to be protected, particularly in the Red Sea as some 15 percent of the world’s shipping passes through the Suez Canal.
“If the Houthis deny this passage to ships, vital supply chains are threatened and prices will go up in Britain and across the globe,” he said.
He also dismissed the Houthis’ claim that their actions are a response to the war in Gaza, calling it “nonsense,” adding, “They’ve attacked ships from countries all over the world, heading to destinations right across the globe.”
Speaking on Sunday to Sky News’s “Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips” programe, Lord Cameron said ministers don’t agree with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the strikes were disproportionate.
“We don’t agree with what President Erdogan has said. If you look at the action we have taken, it is actually backed by a very wide coalition of countries,” he said.
“He is an important NATO ally but in this case we don’t agree. We see this as completely separate from the Israel-Gaza conflict.”
Speaking to the same programme, former head of MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove said while he agrees that freedom of navigation is a different issue from Gaza, “the Arab street doesn’t think that.”
“Inevitably there’s a connection. They’re going to have an impact across the whole area,” he said.
Asked about the risk of terrorism in the UK, Sir Richard said he believes it’s “very unlikely” the Houthis will mount a terrorist attack in the UK because they don’t have “an infrastructure” in the country that “could be a sort of conspiratorial organisation,” but the risk of “a lone wolf inspired event” must have been heightened to an extent.
Cameron: Not Right to Ask Parliament Before Strikes
Lord Cameron also defended the government’s decision not to make a statement to Parliament ahead of the strikes, telling the BBC’s “Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg” programme that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had “followed all the correct procedures.”“There will be a statement in Parliament on Monday. I don’t think it would have been right to have a debate and a vote before this sort of action, because I think it is important for reasons of operational security to on this occasion take the action and then have a statement in Parliament afterwards,” he said.
“As you’ll hear from [Labour leader Sir] Keir Starmer he was briefed on this. The Labour Party are supporting this action. I think we are doing this in exactly the right way,” he said.
Sir Keir, however, told the same programme that there is “no inconsistency” between his support for strikes on the Houthis, and his previous calls for parliamentary oversight of military action.
The Labour leader previously said he would ensure military intervention is subject to approval by Parliament and considered passing an act of law to bind the government to this.
“No, there is no inconsistency here,” he said on Sunday.
“There is obviously a huge distinction between an operation, the like of which we have seen in the last few days, and military action, a sustained campaign, military action usually involving troops on the ground.”
Sir Keir also confirmed he was still committed to a review of UK arms sales he had previously promised, but would not be drawn into whether he would stop all sales to Saudi Arabia.
The Labour leader said: “We will do a review to look at the sales, look at the countries and the relationships we have. Obviously that follows a review.”
