UK 'Didn’t Need’ to Participate in Strikes on Houthis and Only Followed US Orders

The US and the UK carried out air strikes on Houthi targets in northern Yemen earlier this week with the declared aim of deterring attacks on ships passing through the Red Sea.

There was no need for Britain to partake in the attacks on Yemen, former UK MP Matthew Gordon-Banks told Sputnik, explaining that London participated on the orders of the US.

"The UK has no geopolitical ambitions in Yemen and does not have the military capability to undertake anything but limited strike action in parallel with the US. The UK did not need to take part in limited air strikes against the Houthis, but it chose to do so as an ally of the United States," the retired research fellow of the UK Defense Academy said, adding that "Many in the UK, including some officials in the Foreign Ministry, are nervous about this activity."

Four Royal Air Force Typhoon jets used GPS/laser-­guided Paveway IV bombs against two Houthi facilities during the strikes, Britain’s Ministry of Defense earlier said. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described the raids as "limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defense."

Gordon-Banks meanwhile recalled that Italy, France and Spain refused to take part in the strikes "even in written support," with Paris stating that it "would weaken its ability to be seen as an honest broker for de-escalation of the [Palestine-Israel] conflict in Gaza which is the principle reason for the Houthis’ actions."

While the UK’s limited military action against Houthi targets is "seen very much as a necessity by the government to seek to protect shipping in the Red Sea, what the action does do is make UK warships and planes targets given that the Biden administration has stated these actions were 'in support of Israel'," according to the expert.

The former Tory MP said that he is concerned about “any moves to create an extension to the conflict in Gaza-Israel in the wider region, now that escalation has already occurred in Yemen”.

He was echoed by former Egyptian Ambassador to Russia Ezzat Saad who drew parallels between the current events and the US military intervention of Iraq in 2003. At the time, Saad recalled in an interview with Sputnik: "It was only the UK that participated with the United States."

"It is more or less the same story if we look into what is happening in the Red Sea," the director of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs said, specifically referring to reluctance by most of the US’ European allies to take part in this week’s bombing.

"All those countries know perfectly well that what is happening in the Red Sea or the attacks of the Houthis is one of the desired impacts or outcomes of the American foreign policy in the region. The fact is that the United States knows only the military approach to any of the problems that we face here in the region. No diplomacy, no negotiations, no peaceful means to solve the problems. Only the military approach," Saad pointed out.

According to the diplomat, the above-mentioned countries refused to partake in the strikes on the Houthis because they knew that the United States was "cowardly enough not to address the root causes of such security repercussions" from the attacks.

In this regard, Saad pointed to Washington’s unsuccessful attempts "to contain" the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and "keep it within Palestinian-occupied territories."

"Unfortunately, they [the US] are doing exactly the opposite. They are not able to convince their Israeli friends or allies to stop the [Gaza] war, even on a provisional basis, or, to be fair enough, to start any kind of peaceful process to bring this to an end," he concluded.