BRITAIN is preparing to send an aircraft carrier to the Red Sea to blast Houthi targets in Yemen with F-35 Lightning jets.
Defence minister James Heappey gave a “whopping great clue” that one of the Navy’s two carriers would get orders to steam into battle.
The TimesThe Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (L) sails next to the carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth[/caption]
AlamyOne of the navy’s carriers could be deployed to the Red Sea to deal with the threat of Houthi rebel attacks on commercial ships[/caption]
AlamyJames Heappey, minister for the Armed Forces, gave the ‘whopping clue’ this evening[/caption]
Both HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are tied alongside in Portsmouth despite attacks by Iran-backed rebels against cargo ships off the coast of Yemen.
Heappey said the Royal Navy’s most formidable warships weren’t needed while the American carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower was there.
The US Eisenhower, known as Ike, has repeatedly scrambled its fleet of embarked F/A-18 Super Hornets to hit Houthi targets.
Britain has joined the strikes on land by launching RAF Typhoon jets in a 3200 mile round trip from Cyprus.
Heappey signalled the UK aircraft carriers were braced to relieve the USS Eisenhower when it needed time in port.
He said: “With the Ike on station – the Eisenhower on station – and with jets available from Akrotiri, that we were able to meet the challenge as it is now.
“That’s not to say that when the Eisenhower goes home, if we were needed to plug a gap in US deployments, or if the situation deteriorates and we need more, that we wouldn’t [send a British carrier].”
Pressed on whether Britain would deploy a carrier, he said: “I’ve given you a whopping great clue in my previous answer.
“The fact is the Eisenhower can’t stay there forever. And so there’s a thing about just maintaining a carrier presence in the region where we might cooperate with the Americans to provide a capability there.”
It comes as an Iran-backed terror chief tonight announced the end his Iraq-based militia’s attacks on US assets inside both Syria and Iraq.
Hezbollah Brigades Secretary-General al-Hamidawi said military operations against the US had been suspended and they will find “new ways” to support Gaza.
He said: “As we announce the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces – in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government – we will continue to defend our people in Gaza in other ways.”
The Hezbollah Brigades are a group affiliated with the Hashed al-Shaabi, an alliance of Iran-backed former paramilitary groups now integrated in Iraq’s regular armed forces.
His striking comments come amid spiralling tensions across the powder keg of the Middle East after another terror group associated with Iran led a deadly strike against US troops.
President Joe Biden is said to be considering blitzing naval targets as he plots a revenge strike for the ambush on the US base in Jordan that killed three.
The strike marked the first US deaths by enemy fire since the start of the Israel-Hamas war – a major escalation in the crisis taking hold across the region.
On Monday, Biden held private meetings with his national security team to discuss the “unacceptable” attack – and officials said they are preparing to hit back with force.
White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, vowed that a “very consequential response” would be carried out.
Meanwhile in the Red Sea, the emboldened Houthi rebels appear undeterred in their mission to turn the Red Sea into an active warzone – holding the vital shipping hostage with a barrage of missile and drone attacks.
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AFPThe Hezbollah Brigades have called off attacks on US bases and troops in Iraq and Syria[/caption]