Britain sends Typhoons to guard Saudi cities from Houthis

Britain will send Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia to shoot down Houthi missiles and drones aimed at Saudi cities and critical infrastructure, the UK Defense Ministry said on Oct. 20.

CNN reported that the jets will fly defensive counter-air missions over the kingdom, and a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office said they will intercept incoming threats and will not carry out strikes inside Yemen.

The government has not said how many Typhoons are going, where they will be based or when patrols will begin. The jets join UK support already in place in the kingdom, including air defense equipment, British personnel helping counter missile and drone attacks, and a Royal Air Force Voyager tanker that has been refueling Saudi fighters since September.

“The continuing attacks from the Houthis on our ally Saudi Arabia are absolutely despicable. The targeting of the airport in Riyadh in particular shows the lengths the Houthis are going to escalate the situation in the region,” said UK Defense Secretary Wes Streeting.

Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport has been hit repeatedly this month. The deadliest strike, on Oct. 10, wounded more than 300 people, and while Saudi civil aviation authorities put the death toll at 12, CNN has since reported 13 killed, making it the deadliest attack on Saudi Arabia in more than a decade. The Houthis have also fired ballistic missiles and drones at oil facilities, and on Sept. 16 the group claimed to have shot down a Saudi F-15 over Marib, a claim Saudi authorities have not confirmed.

The fighting escalated after the Houthis announced in July that they would target Saudi shipping in the Red Sea and infrastructure inside the kingdom, following a Saudi strike on the Houthi-held airport in Sanaa. Last month the group pushed down Yemen’s western coast and took the port of Mocha and Mayyun Island in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the narrow southern entrance to the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia has asked regional and Western partners for air defense help. France has agreed to send military personnel and equipment, and more than 100 U.S. military advisers are providing intelligence and targeting support under a newly formed joint forces command. Pakistan already has troops in the kingdom, and Egypt’s parliament is debating a deployment after President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called an emergency session.

The Typhoon is a familiar aircraft in the region, since the Royal Saudi Air Force has flown it since buying 72 jets in a deal agreed in 2006. Britain previously sent its Sky Sabre ground-based air defense system to Saudi Arabia earlier this year during the war with Iran.

The Associated Press reported that Britain is also extending its Voyager refueling mission by 90 days. Downing Street has described the support as defensive and limited in scope, while Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces press a counteroffensive that has so far failed to dislodge the Houthis from key positions.