RAF Typhoon fighter jets will be deployed to defend Saudi cities and infrastructure against aerial attacks from Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militia.
“The UK will fly defensive counter air missions to support the protection of Saudi cities and critical national infrastructure against aerial attack, using RAF Typhoon fighter jets,” an official statement said on Tuesday.
“These aircraft will operate in a defensive role and will not conduct offensive strikes against the Houthis.”
The UK will also provide an Atlas A400M transport aircraft with heavy-lift capability to move kit around Saudi Arabia, and British military advisers will support Saudi counterparts on the ground.
In September, Britain said it would provide additional defensive military assistance to Saudi Arabia following renewed Houthi attacks, including an RAF Voyager air-to-air refuelling aircraft. That announcement did not include fighter jet support.
In March, Downing Street announced that four fighters would head to the region to provide defensive cover from Iranian missiles. That was an expansion of the UK presence, with the aircraft joining four Typhoons already deployed in Qatar to “provide further defensive support to regional allies under attack from Iran”.
Houthi attacks have intensified in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, with Yemen authorities saying on Monday that a strike on a government security forces training camp had killed 58 people.
Intolerable escalation
"The continuing attacks from the Houthis on our ally Saudi Arabia are absolutely despicable," said UK defence secretary, Wes Streeting. "The targeting of the airport in Riyadh in particular shows the lengths the Houthis are going to escalate the situation in the region."
Strikes on Riyadh’s airport have killed more than a dozen people and disrupted flights in October, while oil giant Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran and a cross-country pipeline have also been hit during the conflict. Air-raid alerts sounded in the Saudi capital on Monday night in a sign of the continuing security risks.
“The Houthis’ attempts to destabilise the region and undermine the security and stability of the Middle East are unacceptable,” added the Ministry of Defence statement. “This reckless behaviour deepens Yemen’s already devastating humanitarian crisis, and it is in the UK’s national economic and security interest that they do not succeed.
“Escalating violence in the Gulf can have a serious impact at home in the UK – driving up the cost of living, disrupting energy supplies and costs to British businesses. It is also causing devastation to the civilian population in Yemen.”
The Houthi arsenal has been boosted by the development of the 1,800km range the Palestine-2 missile that has the capability to manoeuvre as it closes on its target at 6,000kph, allowing it to evade defences. It also introduced an airburst version of a Badr rocket that it claims exploded next to a Typhoon inside Yemen earlier this month.
The IISS Military Balance says that Saudi Arabia's airforce boasts three squadrons of Typhoon and a further three squadrons of the older Tornado British fighter jet. The Typhoon boasts a 27mm Mauser gun with 150 rounds that could be used to shoot done slow moving drones. But cruise and ballistic too fast for cannon.
The UK has also shipped Sky Sabre air defence to protect the Saudi Typhoons in battle.
