British warplanes – flying from Cyprus – have conducted at least three air strikes in Yemen’s Hodeidah port city on Monday, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.
The strikes, conducted with the US Air Force, hit in the Ras Issa area of al-Salif district, northwest of the city, the television said without providing further information.
Hodeidah’s residents said on social media that the strikes targeted Houthi militants in the Houthi-controlled sea military base in Ras Issa.
The coalition has not commented yet on the fresh strikes.
Since November 2023, the Houthis have increasingly targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which they claim is in retaliation for Israeli strikes in Gaza.
In response, the United States and Britain launched air and missile strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen starting in mid-January. However, rather than deterring or degrading the rebels’ capabilities, these strikes appear to have prompted further escalation from the Houthi forces.
RAF flights are launched from the Akrotiri airbase which sits in an area of almost 254 square kilometers and is one of the two military bases that the United Kingdom retained as “British sovereign areas” when it granted independence to Cyprus in 1960 after 100 years of colonial rule.
