British warship intercepts largest Houthi attack in Red Sea to date

British warships have destroyed multiple drones after Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired their largest attack in the Red Sea to date, the UK defence minister has said.

The complex attack launched by the Houthis included bomb-carrying drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile, according to the US military's Central Command, The Independent reports.

It said 18 drones, two cruise missiles and the anti-ship missile were downed by F-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, as well as by American Arleigh Burke-class destroyers the USS Gravely, the USS Laboon and the USS Mason, as well as the United Kingdom's HMS Diamond.

US, French and British warships have been stationed in the Red Sea since December to counter a continued threat from the Houthis stationed in Yemen.

The attacks have disrupted global trade flows, threatening to spike energy prices and escalate the Israel/Palestine conflict into a regional war.

The Houthis, part of the Iran-led axis of resistance in the Middle East, which includes Hamas, began their aerial campaign in October targeting ships bound for Israel, before quickly extending their attacks to all ships in the area.

Grant Shapps, the UK defence minister, reported that there had been additional Houthi attacks overnight, describing them as the largest to date.

“Overnight, HMS Diamond, along with US warships, successfully repelled the largest attack from the Iranian-backed Houthis in the Red Sea to date,” he wrote in a statement on X.

“Deploying Sea Viper missiles and guns, DIAMOND destroyed multiple attack drones headed for her and commercial shipping in the area, with no injuries or damage sustained to DIAMOND or her crew.

“The UK alongside allies have previously made it clear that these illegal attacks are completely unstoppable and if continued, the Houthis will bear the consequences.

“We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy.”

The assault happened off the Yemeni port cities of Hodeida and Mokha, on the western coastline roughly 140 miles from the capital Sanaa, according to the private intelligence firm Ambrey. In the Hodeida incident, Ambrey said ships described over radio seeing missiles and drones, with US-allied warships in the area urging “vessels to proceed at maximum speed”.

Off Mokha, ships saw missiles fired, a drone in the air and small vessels trailing them, Ambrey said early Wednesday. The British military's United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations also acknowledged the incident off Hodeida.

US Central Command said the assault was the 26th attack by Houthi rebels on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since 19 November.

The Houthis, a Shiite group that's held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014, did not formally acknowledge launching the attacks but the pan-Arab news outlet Al Jazeera quoted an anonymous Houthi military official saying their forces “targeted a ship linked to Israel in the Red Sea”, without elaborating.

The Houthis say their attacks aim to end the pounding Israeli air-and-ground offensive targeting the Gaza Strip amid that country's war on Hamas - but the links to the ships targeted in the rebel assaults have grown more tenuous as the attacks continue.

The attacks have targeted ships in the Red Sea, which links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That strait is only 18 miles wide at its narrowest point, limiting traffic to two channels for inbound and outbound shipments, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Nearly 10 per cent of all oil traded at sea passes through it. An estimated $1 trillion (£787bn) in goods pass through the strait annually.

A pre-planned United Nations Security Council (UNSC) vote is scheduled for later on Wednesday to potentially condemn, and demand an immediate halt to, the attacks by the Houthis.

A US draft resolution before the UNSC says the Houthi attacks are impeding global commerce “and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security”.

The resolution would demand the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship with links to an Israeli company that it seized in November along with its crew.