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The UK is deploying Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia to help defend the kingdom from escalating missile and drone attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Getting into it: The UK Defense Ministry announced Tuesday that the jets will fly “defensive counter-air missions” to guard Saudi cities and key infrastructure, intercepting missiles and drones, but will not carry out strikes against the Houthis inside Yemen. The UK is also sending an RAF A400M transport plane to move military equipment within Saudi Arabia and advisers to work alongside Saudi officers, and extending its air-to-air refueling support for Saudi operations by 90 days, on top of air defense equipment and British personnel already in the country.
The move comes after Houthi strikes on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, including an Oct. 10 attack that killed 13 people and injured more than 300, the most lethal strike inside the kingdom in more than ten years, along with strikes on Saudi Aramco oil facilities. The fighting has escalated since the Houthis started blockading Saudi Arabia by sea in July and took over a big stretch of Yemen’s Red Sea coast last month, including the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait. On Monday, a Houthi missile strike killed at least 53 Yemeni government recruits in Shabwa province.
“The continuing attacks from the Houthis on our ally Saudi Arabia are absolutely despicable,” UK Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said. “The targeting of the airport in Riyadh in particular shows the lengths the Houthis are going to escalate the situation in the region.”
The UK government said the violence is hitting British households and businesses with higher prices and shakier energy supplies, with Brent crude now around $110 a barrel. Saudi commentator Ali Shihabi said there is “a certain amount of frustration” in Riyadh that the US hasn’t sent military aircraft, though he said Saudis appreciate American intelligence and personnel on the ground. Pakistan and Turkey have also been pitching in under an August defense pact, with help they insist is strictly defensive.
This all comes after Trump said last week the US “may” join Saudi operations against the Houthis but has yet to commit, as Washington remains focused on its broader war with Iran.
