Lord Cameron raises prospect of further strikes in Yemen, warning Britain will follow ‘words with actions’

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Lord Cameron raised the prospect of further UK strikes towards insurgent Houthis in Yemen, warning that it’s “incredibly important that they understand” Britain will follow phrases with motion.

As Sir Keir Starmer doubled down on his backing for the federal government’s motion over the Red Sea disaster, the overseas secretary opened the door to further assaults.

Ahead of a debate in parliament over the navy strikes, the Labour chief mentioned “doing nothing” whereas Houthi rebels assault cargo ships in the Red Sea was not an possibility.

Sir Keir and Lord Cameron placed on a united entrance on Sunday, insisting Britain’s strikes in Yemen have been mandatory after weeks of escalating assaults on industrial vessels.

And Sir Keir mentioned he would “listen carefully” to ministers concerning the want for any further focused motion.

The interventions got here after days of strikes towards rebel-controlled websites in Yemen, with the US launching a “follow-on action” towards a Houthi radar web site.

In the early hours of Friday morning, in response to weeks of drone and missile assaults on industrial ships in the strategically essential Red Sea, US and UK warplanes, ships and submarines hit 28 areas and struck greater than 60 targets.

The Hamas-backing Houthis declare they’re solely focusing on vessels linked to Israel in one of the world’s busiest transport routes, as a result of of the struggle in Gaza.

A spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces in the Houthi-controlled north of the nation mentioned the bombardment “will not go unanswered and unpunished”. The spokesman added that strikes will not deter their help for Palestinians amid Israel’s struggle in Gaza.

But Lord Cameron denied any hyperlink between the struggle in Gaza and the Red Sea assaults, telling Sky News the motion was “completely separate”.

And he went further, saying Britain is ready to take further motion in Yemen if assaults proceed.

He mentioned: “We have sent the clearest possible message to the Houthis that their behaviour is unacceptable, and we’ve demonstrated that we’re prepared to follow words and warnings with action.

“And that is incredibly important that they understand that.”

Writing in The Independent, Sir Keir had backed the federal government’s motion in Yemen and denounced Iran for “sponsoring terrorism”.

He supported Rishi Sunak for sending British forces into motion towards Houthi militants and appearing in the “national interest”.

And on Sunday morning, the Labour chief promised to “look at the case the government puts forward” for any further strikes.

He instructed the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg there must be a debate in parliament on Monday concerning the navy operation that has taken place.

“I will have to listen carefully to whatever the government says about any further action that may be needed,” he mentioned.

Lord Cameron hit again at critics, after hundreds gathered throughout the nation to name for a ceasefire in Gaza and rally towards the strikes in Yemen, saying Britain wanted to ship “ a very unambiguous message that we are prepared to follow our words and warnings with actions”.

“not acting is also a policy, and it wasn’t working,” the overseas secretary mentioned.

He described how ongoing assaults on industrial vessels since mid-November have been getting worse and extra frequent.

Sir Keir agreed with Lord Cameron, saying: “I think it is important to look at what Houthis are doing in the Red Sea because those attacks were taking place, they were ramping up and escalating.

“And sitting back and simply doing nothing in that situation is not an appropriate way to respond.”

That comes regardless of criticism of the strikes from left-wingers near Sir Keir’s predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.

Former shadow house secretary Diane Abbott, who now sits as an Independent MP, accused Sir Keir of going again on a pledge in his management marketing campaign towards Mr Corbyn.

But Sir Keir has used the disaster as a option to distance himself from the disastrous management of Mr Corbyn, a staunch critic of Nato.

Sir Keir appeared to row again on yet one more pledge made in the final Labour management contest, in which he was making an attempt to win over left-wing Labour members, to make sure parliament had consented to any UK navy motion.

Sir Keir mentioned he had solely meant {that a} parliamentary vote can be wanted if the UK was placing “boots on the ground”.

Left-wing stress group Momentum accused him of “serial duplicity”, calling as a substitute for a coverage of “peace and human rights”.

Sir Keir additionally appeared to row again on one other dedication to ban arms gross sales to Saudi Arabia, saying solely that Labour in authorities would “review the situation”.