British foreign secretary urges Houthis to stop Red Sea campaign

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has implored the Houthis to stop their "reckless" attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea following the latest UK-US air strikes.
Cameron said the third wave of joint British and US assaults on Houthi positions in Yemen on Saturday took place after "repeated warnings" for the rebel group to cease its harassment campaign.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoon FGR4s were supported by Voyager tankers during the allied mission as they targeted locations in Yemen used by the Iranian-backed militants.
More than 30 sites across 13 locations were hit by coalition forces, according to a joint statement by the eight nations involved.
Cameron tweeted on Sunday: "The UK and the US have carried out further strikes on Houthi military targets.
"We have issued repeated warnings to the Houthis.
"Their reckless actions are putting innocent lives at risk, threatening the freedom of navigation and destabilising the region.
"The Houthi attacks must stop."
The Houthis have repeatedly launched attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and elsewhere off the Yemen coast, claiming it is targeting Israeli or Israel-destined ships in protest over the war with Hamas in Gaza.
However, they have frequently targeted ships with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, endangering shipping on a key global trade route used for accessing the Suez Canal.
As a result of the clashes in the southern Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab strait, vessels have had to be redirected around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, a journey that takes longer and is more costly.
It is feared the disruption could increase inflation and push up the price of goods in shops.
During Saturday's attacks, RAF Typhoons used precision-guided bombs against several military targets at three locations, the MoD said.
According to the Whitehall department, allied intelligence had calculated some of the stations were being used to launch drone attacks and to spy on freight vessels and Western warships.
The ministry said the night-time raids were designed to ensure minimal risk of civilian casualties.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps denied the attacks were escalatory.
The Cabinet minister said on Saturday he was "confident" the military action had "further degraded" Houthi capabilities to carry out its missile and drone ambushes.
In a joint statement issued after the strikes by Britain and its coalition partners — the US, Australia, Bahrain, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand — the Houthis were warned the West "will not hesitate to continue to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world's most critical waterways."