we ll bring you an interview with ecuador s president in the week will have elections on taiwan. we start tonight with reaction to the american and british air strikes on houthi targets in yemen. last night four royal air force typhoon fighterjets took part in the raids, along with us navyjets. this footage is from one of the two uk raf strikes. officials say 16 sites were targeted 16 sites, including in the capital city sana a. they included what the us called command and control centres, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities and air defence radar systems. houthi leaders said five people were killed, and threatened to retaliate. the raids were in response to houthi attacks on ships in the red sea, which they say is in response to israel s attacks in gaza. fighters have been targeting ships with armed drones and missiles and boarding them. the british prime minister called the strikes necessary and proportionate in order to protect global trade in on
and the possible wider ramifications for the region, here sjeremy bowen. in sana a, the yemeni capital, a huge rally against the air and in support of palestinians filled the city s broadest boulevard. it was organised, the houthis do not allow unauthorised protest, but without question, millions in yemen and across the arab world are appalled by israel s conduct in the gaza war and regard the american and british air strikes as and regard the american and british airstrikes as an and regard the american and british air strikes as an escalation on israel s behalf. during the night, the americans launched their attack from a carrier battle group in the red sea. like britain, they had warned the houthis this was coming if they did not stop hitting shipping. the air strikes were intended to show that western red lines will not turn pink under
and hit israel s allies. iran provides the houthis with training and weapons and they said the attacks will go on until the fighting in gaza stops. britain and the us oppose an immediate ceasefire in the war. the air strikes, this was the raf raid, are only partly about freedom of navigation in the red sea. the reality is that they are also directly linked to events in gaza and represent an escalation in the crisis that is gripping the middle east. jeremy bowen, bbc news. let s focus now on who the houthis are. the houthis are a political and military group from a sub sect of the country s shia muslim minority, the zaidis. as you can see, they control a large part of yemen. most of the population lives under houthi areas of control, including the capital, sana a. its control of the red sea coastlines makes its attacks on commericial shipping possible. the movement formed in the 1990s, against the then yemeni president,
the houthis who are carrying out the attacks say that s why they are doing them. and they say clearly as well that if there was a ceasefire, they would stop. now, they may not be telling the truth about that but that is what they are saying. welcome to the programme. the white house says us and british air strikes on houthi sites in yemen have diminished the group s ability to launch missiles and drones. russia, turkey and the main supporter of the houthis iran have condemned the action. we ll bring you the latest on the political and economic fallout. also in the programme britain s prime minister rishi sunak promises £2.5 pounds worth of new aid for ukraine, as he pays a visit to the country.