BREAKING: US and UK bomb Houthis in Yemen as Sri Lanka govt prepares to send a warship to the Red Sea

Colombo (News 1st) - BREAKING: US and UK warplanes, warships and submarines, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, have carried out strikes on more than a dozen locations against the Houthis in Yemen early Friday (12th). The Houthis have now warned of severe retaliation: Foreign Media.

The enormous escalation in the conflict came as the Sri Lanka Navy prepared to send a warship to the Red Sea on the instructions of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, despite much public opposition of Sri Lanka becoming involved in a conflict that many view as not its own.

Social media showed massive explosions in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, the main port of Hudaydah, the town of Dhamar and the north-western Houthi stronghold of Saada.

U.S. President Joe Biden said he ordered the strikes “in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea.”

“Today, at my direction, U.S. military forces—together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands—successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways,” the president said in a statement released by the White House.

Biden added that he will “not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”

The attacks came from fighter jets and Tomahawk cruise missiles that were fired from warships and submarines in the Red Sea. UK Royal Air Force jets flew in from as far away as the RAF base in Cyprus, while US aircraft were launched from the aircraft carrier Eisenhower in the Red Sea.

UK PM Rishi Sunak also made a public statement with regard to the strikes. The UK PM said that the strikes are "limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence".