starts now. good evening. we re following breaking ne. the u.s. and british military have launched strikes against targets in houthi controlled yemen, according to two u.s. officials. this comes after the iranian-backed militant group has launched a series of attacks on commercial ships in the red ahich has stoked fears of a wider conflict in the region already reeling from the israel/hamas war. we have a lot to get to. this is obviously a huge development in the region. you re looking at a map right there. the challenge has been that the houthi attacks have caused ships that would normally go through the suez canal to have to go around the horn of africa, meaning it takes a lot longer to get there. there have been some limited military strikes that have killed some houthis that were involved in this blockade. the houthis launched this blockade in protest to the killing of palestinians in gaza. so that is just the setup, the background to what s going on. the houthis are an
told us of about three months, we have had missiles launched at our ships and commercial shipping. we have had drone attacks. we had small boat attacks. we have warned these houthi rebels, houthi pirates again and again and again. and they have simply not responded. and joy, we can t just sit back and be defensive here and allow these iranian backed rebels to simply break 15% of the global shipping chain. that will increase costs for all of us in every single way. it shatters the confidence and the consensus in global shipping. that s what s happening here. so the administration correctly has decided to launch a series of strikes, three important things to note. number one, it s u.s. plus coalition partners. certainly, the united kingdom, i suspect others have been