UK rubbishes reports of fresh strikes on Yemen
The British government on Saturday moved to dispel reports it had conducted strikes in Yemen on Friday night after reports had circulated in international media suggesting strikes had been launched.
The Cyprus News Agency (CNA) had on Saturday morning quoted Yemeni television channel Al-Masirah saying that United States and UK forces “bombed the airport in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled city of Al Hudaydah late on Friday night.”
They added that the bombing “came a few hours after strikes on the island of Kamaran, just north of Al Hudaydah, in the southern Red Sea.”
However, the British ministry of defence denied the claims to the Cyprus Mail, saying the reports were “false”.
“The UK did not conduct strikes last night,” the ministry said.
Al Hudaydah is a strategic port city on Yemen’s west coast and plays a crucial role in allowing food to be imported into the country. It is home to an estimated 700,000 people and is controlled by the Houthi movement.
The Houthi movement is a Shia Islamist organisation allegedly backed by Iran which controls much of the west of Yemen and has been attacking ships passing through the Red Sea in response to the west’s support for Israel.
The UK had earlier in the year used its Akrotiri base in Cyprus to conduct bombing raids in Yemen.
In January, then-British Defence Minister Grant Shapps announced that “Royal Air Force Typhoon [aircraft] conducted precision strikes on two Houthi military targets alongside United States forces.” Alongside the statement, he included a video of a Eurofighter Typhoon taking off from Akrotiri.
A month later, British Royal Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons, supported by Voyager tankers, took part in what the UK government described as “further deliberate strikes” in the country, with the British Defence Ministry tacitly telling the Cyprus Mail at the time that the strikes had been launched from the Akrotiri base.
The UK’s use of its bases in Cyprus has caused controversy among the people of the island, with around 500 people having taken part in a protest against the bases’ role in the conflict in January.
Demonstrators reiterated their demand for “an end to Cyprus’ involvement via the British Bases in the genocide being committed against the fraternal Palestinian people.”
The Cypriot government’s spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said after the first round of strikes it is “in constant communication with the UK within the framework established in relation to the bases’ use.”
He also moved to play down Cyprus’ involvement in the bombing, saying “what we must emphasise once again is that the Republic of Cyprus has no connection or involvement with the military operations.”