Britain’s armed forces are expected to take part in US airstrikes against military positions of Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels “within hours”, The Times newspaper’s head of political reporting said on Thursday.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s offices at 10 Downing Street did not respond when Reuters asked for comment on the report.

The US military generally does not comment publicly on potential future operations.

“The Houthis must stop these attacks … they will suffer the consequences if they don’t,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said earlier yesterday.

Mr Sunak chaired an emergency cabinet meeting on the military operation, The Times of London reported. He also briefed the leader of the main opposition — Labour — Keir Starmer and the speaker of the House of Commons, according to other media reports.

The Houthis yesterday launched their 27th consecutive attack on merchant ships in the Red Sea since November 19, firing an anti-surface ballistic missile (ASBM) into the Gulf of Aden.

American and British forces in the region on Tuesday destroyed 18 drones and three missiles fired by the Houthis. This “sophisticated” attack was described as unprecedented.

Shortly after the Israel/Hamas war broke out in the Gaza Strip on October 7, the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen and are backed by Iran, like Hamas, said they would target in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, ships passing through the Red Sea if they have any “relationship” with Israel, curbing international shipping.

Israel’s main ally, the US, responded by announcing in December the creation of a naval coalition tasked with protecting international shipping from Houthi attacks in this strategically important maritime area, through which about 12% of world trade passes.

Yemen’s Shiite rebel leader, Abdel Malik al-Houthi, threatened yesterday that there would be retaliation for any US attack on his forces, speaking of operations on a scale “even larger” than Tuesday’s attack, which he claimed responsibility for. his movement yesterday Wednesday.