US and UK prepare to launch strikes against Houthis in Yemen

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Western defence sources indicated preparations were intensifying on Thursday in response to a Houthi attack of 21 missiles and drones aimed at US and UK warships on Tuesday night, although its scale and timing remain secret.

In response, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Iran-backed group, which controls the north and west of Yemen, said on Thursday that if struck the Houthis would fight back, suggesting any conflict in the Red Sea would be extended.

Experts believe the US, UK and other western allies are most likely to target coastal radar and launch sites in a calibrated attempt to halt the three-month spate of Houthi missile and drone attacks in the busy Middle Eastern waterway.

Aid agencies said they were concerned about the impact of fresh bombing on the Yemeni population, in a country trying to negotiate an end to a nine-year civil war, but one told the Guardian that the Houthi attacks were very popular within Yemen, interpreted as a form of resistance to Israel and the west.

Israel’s bombing campaign against Hamas in Gaza is in its fourth month, while tensions are worsening in the north of the country, where Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon have been engaged in increasingly aggressive tit for tat attacks.

The US had formed an international naval coalition, Operation Prosperity Guardian, aimed at protecting the waterway, with Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, New Zealand and the UK.

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