Britain will deploy Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets on defensive missions to help protect Saudi cities and critical national infrastructure from Houthi aerial attacks, the Ministry of Defence announced on Tuesday. The deployment expands on earlier military support provided to Riyadh, which previously included an RAF Voyager air-to-refuel aircraft but no fighter jets.
RAF Typhoons Deploy to Protect Saudi Skies
The new defensive operation responds directly to escalating missile and drone strikes by Yemen’s Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah. Defence minister Wes Streeting outlined the necessity of the deployment in a statement reported by Reuters and other outlets.
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,
Wes Streeting, Defence Minister
Streeting added that Prime Minister Andy Burnham had authorized the defensive mission to safeguard Saudi cities. Alongside the Typhoon jets, Britain will send an Atlas A400M transport aircraft and military advisers to support Saudi staff officers, according to Dawn. The aircraft will operate strictly in a defensive capacity and will not conduct offensive strikes against the Iran-backed group.
Escalating Conflict and Rising Casualties on the Ground
The British military intervention unfolds against a backdrop of intensifying warfare across Yemen and into Saudi territory. A missile strike on Riyadh’s international airport on October 10 killed 13 people and injured 308 others, marking the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade. Saudi authorities reported that the capital’s airport had been targeted by Ansarallah forces 20 times since the beginning of the month.
The conflict has exacted a severe human toll inside Yemen as well. AP News noted that the death toll from a Houthi missile strike on a training camp for government security forces in southern Yemen’s Shabwa province rose to 73. Meanwhile, the Houthi-run health ministry reported that Saudi air and artillery strikes had killed at least 141 people and injured 395 since September 3.
A Century-Long Bilateral Security Partnership
The decision to send RAF jets reinforces a defense partnership stretching back more than a century. In December 1915, Sir Percy Cox concluded the Treaty of Darin with King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, according to records held by the UK’s National Archives. Major arms agreements followed decades later, including a 1966 contract for Lightning fighter jets from the British Aircraft Corporation. That relationship evolved through the massive AlYamamah oil-for-arms agreements in 1985 for Tornado and Hawk jets, and later a 2007 agreement for 72 Typhoons worth 4.43 billion pounds. While Germany temporarily halted arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Berlin dropped its objections in January 2024, clearing the path for ongoing military cooperation and defense sales supported by BAE Systems.
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