UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe government has moved to proscribe extremist Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir as a terrorist organisation.Security minister Tom Tugendhat said the Islamic fundamentalist group “encourages and promotes terrorism” as he condemned its “disgraceful celebration of Hamas’ appalling attacks on Israel”.Home secretary James Cleverly has laid before parliament a draft order to proscribe the Sunni Islamist political organisation under the Terrorism Act.If backed by MPs, it will come into force on Friday. It would mean “belonging to, inviting support for and displaying articles in a public place in a way that arouses suspicion of membership or support for the group will be a criminal offence”.James Cleverly has moved to proscribe the group (James Manning/PA)Founded in 1953, Hizb ut-Tahrir is an international political group whose long-term aim is to establish a global Caliphate ruled under Islamic law.While their headquarters are in Lebanon, the group operates in at least 32 countries including the UK, United States, Canada and Australia.The proscription of Hizb ut-Tahrir includes the global organisation, as well as all regional branches, including Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain.Proscription can mean prison sentences of up to 14 years for those associated with organisations. And the resources of a proscribed organisation are terrorist property and may be seized.Former prime ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron had both proposed banning the organisation but then dropped plans to do so. But the government faced renewed pressure to proscribe the group in the wake of Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks in Israel, which prominent Hizb ut-Tahrir members in Britain appeared to celebrate. Ministers had also faced pressure to proscribe the group in the wake of pro-Palestine demonstrations, at which demonstrators from Hizb ut-Tahrir had chanted “Jihad”.Mr Cleverly said: “Hizb ut-Tahrir is an antisemitic organisation that actively promotes and encourages terrorism, including praising and celebrating the appalling 7 October attacks.“Proscribing this terrorist group will ensure that anyone who belongs to and invites supports for them will face consequences. It will curb Hizb ut-Tahrir’s ability to operate as it currently does.”Hizb ut-Tahrir’s praise of the 7 October attacks and associated incidents, as well as describing Hamas as ‘heroes’ on their central website constitutes promoting and encouraging terrorism.Hizb ut-Tahrir has a history of praising and celebrating attacks against Israel and attacks against Jews more widely. The UK stands strongly against antisemitism and will not tolerate the promotion of terrorism in any form.This group’s antisemitic ideology and praise of attacks against innocent civilians in Israel outlines the necessity of its proscription. Tom Tugendhat condemned Hizb ut-Tahrir’s ‘disgraceful celebration of Hamas’ appalling attacks on Israel’ Mr Tugendhat said: “Hizb ut-Tahrir clearly encourage and promote terrorism.“Their celebration of Hamas’ appalling attacks on Israel, going so far as to call the terrorists who raped and murdered Israeli citizens ‘heroes’, is disgraceful.“We stand firmly against antisemitism and hatred against the Jewish community in the UK.”Labour welcomed the decision to proscribe the group, saying “there have long been serious concerns about Hizb ut-Tahrir”Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said they have been “exacerbated in light of Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack on Israel”.“Those who incite violence and promote or glorify terrorism have no place on Britain’s streets and must face the full force of the law,” she added.Several countries have banned Hizb ut-Tahrir for their various activities, including Germany, Egypt, Bangladesh, Pakistan and several Central Asian and Arab countries. Austria banned symbols of the group in May 2021. More

Grant Shapps has insisted that the government’s “plan is starting to work” despite suggestions the party is on course for a huge 1997-style election defeat.A YouGov survey, reported by The Telegraph, of 14,000 people indicates that Rishi Sunak’s Tories could hold on to as few as 169 seats as Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour enters Downing Street with 385.“This government is working to a plan that is starting to work, I think we’ll see it work a lot more in the months to come, compared with no plan under Keir Starmer,” Shapps told LBC on Monday (15 January). More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email “Everyone is welcome,” reads the sign at the church door in this quiet Dutch village, where neighbors greet each other from tidy porches overlooking manicured lawns. But that declaration of tolerance seems oddly out of place.Triggered by economic and cultural anxieties that have whipped up fears about immigrants, people here and throughout the Netherlands have veered far to the right politically. It’s an extreme example of a trend being felt across the continent that could tilt the outcome of this year’s European Union parliamentary election. In Sint Willebrord, which has few immigrants among its 9,300 residents, almost three out of four voters chose a virulently anti-migrant, anti-Muslim party in an election last year that shattered the Netherlands’ image as a welcoming, moderate country. The Party for Freedom, led by a peroxide-haired firebrand named Geert Wilders, received nearly a quarter of all the votes — in a country where less than 5 percent of the people are Muslim — with slogans such as “no Islamic schools, Qurans or mosques” and “no open borders and mass immigration we cannot afford.” Voters across Europe are increasingly empowering leaders like Wilders who promise to restrict immigration and, in some cases, constrain democratic freedoms: of religion, of expression, of the right to protest.These forces have bubbled up to varying degrees one country at a time, including in Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and Austria. But before long, experts worry, they could dramatically reshape the continent from the top down.In June, voters in the 27 member states of the European Union will elect their next Parliament for a five-year term. Analysts say that far-right parties are primed to gain seats – and more influence over EU policies affecting everything from civil rights to gender issues to immigration. “People have a score to settle with ‘old politics,’” said Rem Korteweg, senior research fellow at the Clingendael think tank in The Hague.In some European nations, the shift to the right has begun to gnaw at the foundations of democracy. In Hungary and Serbia, recent elections were free but not fair, democracy experts say, because the ruling parties captured the media, the courts and the electoral authorities.___This story, supported by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting, is part of an ongoing Associated Press series covering threats to democracy in Europe. ___ RISING COSTS, RISING ANGER Support for Wilders’ Party for Freedom more than doubled since the last Dutch election in 2021. With 23% of the vote, Wilders stands a good chance of leading any future governing coalition.For a quarter century, voters across the Netherlands have grown increasingly disgruntled as successive governments — despite high levels of taxation — were unable to stop the erosion of cradle-to-grave benefits citizens had come to expect for things like education, health care and pensions. “It is as if people are being forced to vote for Wilders,” said Sint Willebrord resident Walter de Jong, 80. A lifelong baker, De Jong said he was forced to close his business last year because of rising costs and stringent government rules. The decline in Dutch living standards has coincided with rising immigration. Two decades ago, the Netherlands had a net outflow of migrants, but by 2022 that had swung to an influx of 224,000 in a nation of 17.5 million.The Netherlands has also been hit hard by a cost-of-living crisis affecting everything from the price of healthcare to food.The income needed to buy a first home has risen far faster than earnings, according to a 2022 study by the Dutch lender Rabobank. “Housing is a policy failure,” said Tom Theuns of Leiden University. “And then you have a populist who says, ‘OK, the reason is: asylum seekers are given priority.’ Even if this is a lie, this is how immigration becomes linked via racist messaging. It’s scapegoating.” SHUN OR EMBRACE POPULISM? For traditional parties of the European center-right and center-left, the success of populist messaging presents a challenge. One favored analogy for dealing with them has been a “cordon sanitaire,” the protective barrier put in place to stop the spread of infectious diseases. Politically speaking, that meant not forming coalitions with them.In Belgium, this strategy was used to isolate far-right nationalists, and in France, the Front National party of Jean-Marie Le Pen was kept at arm’s length.However, under Le Pen’s daughter, Marine, the Front National — rebranded as the National Rally — is no longer a pariah. In November, she was welcomed at a protest march against rising antisemitism. That prompted critics to use an unflattering German expression — “salonfähig” — to describe a former outcast being welcomed into polite society. In the Netherlands, forming a majority coalition with Wilders’ party was considered unthinkable not long ago.But then the mood of the continent began to change. The 2015 migration crisis in Europe was an opening for far-right politics following the EU’s halting response to the arrival of some 100,000 asylum seekers each month. Wilders’ anti-migrant rhetoric began to resonate even more.In July, Mark Rutte’s majority coalition collapsed over his handling of immigration, and his successor as leader of the VVD party hinted that Wilders might be a partner to talk to again.“Suddenly, a vote for Wilders was no longer a wasted vote,” said Korteweg of the Clingendael think tank. In December, a member of Wilders’ party became president of parliament, marking a breakthrough in political acceptance.Political analysts looking ahead to the EU Parliament elections in June say what is happening in countries like the Netherlands could be a harbinger for the governing body of the bloc’s 450 million people.Rather than far-right parties being pulled to the center, the center may veer to the right.“And this may be the biggest danger for Europe,” said Korteweg of Clingendael. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailBritain is sending a task force of 20,000 to take part in the biggest Nato exercise since the Cold War which aims to make the alliance battle-ready at an increasingly dangerous time with conflicts raging in the Middle East and Ukraine.The UK contingent, from the army, Royal Navy and the RAF will provide almost half of the 41,000 service personnel which will take part in Operation Steadfast Defender which will have a multinational deployment of up to 50 warships, and dozens of aircraft, carrying out 700 air combat missions.The drills taking place across Germany, Poland and the Baltics on Nato’s 75th year are part of an urgent push for the alliance to change from essentially a crisis-response unit to full combat stance at short notice.The war games, using real-time geographical data to create more realistic scenarios for troops, will be aimed at countering an enemy coalition led by Russia, named “Ocassus” for the occasion, carrying out aggression against member states.But it will also be partly focused on dealing with hostile armed militias and terrorist groups which threatens the alliance’s interests internationally.Defence secretary Grant Shapps will warn that Britain’s “adversaries are busily rebuilding their barriers” and “old enemies are being reanimated”.Defence Secretary Grant Shapps will warn Britain’s enemies are ‘busily rebuilding their barriers’ A US led coalition is at present engaged in military action against the Houthis in Yemen with the US and UK carrying out airstrikes. Although Nato is not part of the mission, a number of member states are involved, and the exercise, it is believed, will help hone interoperability.As well as 31 member states, Sweden, whose bid to join is yet to be ratified by Turkey and Hungary, will be taking part in the exercise.Rishi Sunak announced a £2.5bn security assistance package for Ukraine during a visit to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky last week. Mr Shapps is due to announce the dispatch of the force to the Nato exercise in a major speech at Lancaster House in London on Monday.The defence secretary is due to say “we are in a new era and we must be prepared to deter our enemies, prepared to lead our allies and prepared to defend our nation whenever the call comes.Rishi Sunak visited Ukraine to pledge £2.5billion in military aid to the war-torn country“Today our adversaries are busily rebuilding their barriers. Old enemies are reanimated. Battle lines are being redrawn. The tanks are literally on Ukraine’s lawn. And the foundations of the world order are being shaken to their core. We stand at a crossroads.“I can announce that UK will be sending some 20,000 personnel to take part in Exercise Steadfast Defender. It will see our military joining forces with counterparts from 30 Nato countries plus Sweden, providing vital reassurance against the Putin menace.”The Royal Navy contribution is of eight warships and submarines, and more than 2,000 sailors, including a Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier with F35B Lightning jets as well as helicopters, escort frigates and destroyers.In addition more than 400 Royal Marines Commandos will be deployed to the Arctic Circle to be the core of an allied amphibious task group designed to land and defend the alliance in the High North, where both Russia and China are making forays.Around 16,000 troops from the army will be based across eastern Europe from February to June 2024, with them tanks, artillery, helicopters, and airbourne and Special Operations Forces. The RAF will supply F35B Lightning attack and Poseidon P8 surveillance aircraft which will take part in simulated conflict scenarios against enemy fighters, missiles and drones.Nato’s military chief, the US Navy Admiral Rob Bauer, said recently: “A new era of collective defence is upon us and we need to be prepared to act”.The alliance has agreed to increase the number of its high-readiness forces from 40,000 to over 300,000. At a summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, last summer it agreed to new regional defence plans and the creation of an Allied Reaction Force to provide rapid response when needed. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Keir Starmer has warned of a rise in anti-Jewish racism as he vowed never to let antisemitism take hold in the Labour Party again.The Labour leader said antisemitism had taken “a new shape” in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 terror attacks on Israel, with those who “hate Jews” hiding behind pro-Palestinian demonstrators.Addressing the Jewish Labour Movement’s (JLM) conference on Sunday, Sir Keir said: “Let me assure you, we will never let antisemitism sneak back into the Labour Party under cover.Keir Starmer has vowed never to let antisemitism take hold in the Labour Party again “I see no greater cause in my leadership than this. This is my role.”It came as Sir Keir announced that ex-MP Luciana Berger would lead a review of the party’s mental health strategy, four years after she quit Labour blaming “a “sea of cases” of antisemitism.She rejoined Labour as a member last year, and her appointment to the key role was announced on Sunday.Ms Berger claimed that Labour had “turned a significant corner” under Sir Keir’s leadership.The former MP, who served as a shadow health minister between 2013 and 2016, will present recommendations ahead of the next election on how Labour should fulfil its plan to tackle mental illness.Luciana Berger praised the Labour leader’s efforts to remove antisemitism from the party It is another sign of progress in Sir Keir’s drive to “tear out antisemitism” from the “roots” of the Labour Party.Addressing JLM members, Sir Keir said he had “dragged [the] party away from that abyss”, adding that he would “never let Britain go anywhere near it either”.“This country will be safe for you and your children,” he promised.Addressing Israel’s war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’s 7 October attacks, Sir Keir said British antisemitism was not “born the day after” the killing spree.“But nonetheless, after October the 7th we can all see that it’s taking a new shape,” he added.And after a series of high-profile marches across the country in protest at Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, he addressed Jews who “can see hate marching side by side with calls for peace”.“We understand that to be targeted for who you are, and attacked for things beyond your control, for your children to be afraid to walk the street or go to school, is the greatest anxiety that a parent or a community can face,” Sir Keir said.In a warning about the future of the Conservative Party after the next election, he said he was “worried” about where it might go.Right-wing Tories have used increasingly divisive language in recent months, and with a leadership contest expected if the Conservatives lose power, Sir Keir suggested there could be a further lurch to the right.“I worry about where it might go, because the politics of division don’t help the Jewish community, and they’ve never helped the Jewish community,” he said.Taking aim at Rishi Sunak and other senior Tories for engaging in culture wars, he warned that divisive politics “can easily boil over”. “I’m not sure the Tories can be trusted on that any more… I don’t know if they see the consequences,” he added.Accepting her new role, Ms Berger said she was “delighted to be back working with my party”.Ms Berger, who stood as a Liberal Democrat in the 2019 election and lost her seat, said: “Millions of people are experiencing poor mental health without the necessary support to recover.“The absence of a proper plan to address the causes of poor mental health requires urgent attention. Labour’s commitment to deliver a cross-government long-term strategy to tackle mental ill-health is an important step towards gripping this issue, and I am really excited to be leading this work.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailDavid Cameron has denied he was paid £10m by the collapsed financial firm Greensill Capital, but has refused to say how much he was paid by the scandal-hit company.In a painstaking exchange, the foreign secretary declined to answer a barrage of interview questions on how much he had earned lobbying for the company.The Greensill scandal saw the exposure of Lord Cameron’s aggressive lobbying efforts on behalf of Greensill Capital during the pandemic.Lord Cameron dodged a series of questions over how much he earned lobbying for Greensill CapitalHe has previously faced questions about his relationship with financier Lex Greensill, who set up the now-defunct firm, and his extraordinary access to ministers and officials after leaving No 10.Asked about the alleged £10m payment, he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “No, that isn’t true.”Lord Cameron tried to deflect the question by talking about his work on behalf of Alzheimer’s Research UK, and declined to set the record straight by revealing how much he had been paid for his lobbying for Greensill.He said: “Because I was a private citizen, I had a number of different interests – the things I did, including important charitable work – and I think, as a private citizen, you’re entitled to do that.”After persistent questioning by Laura Kuenssberg, he repeated that he was a “private citizen” and insisted he had declared his interests since returning to government.Lex Greensill’s financial firm Greensill Capital collapsed in 2021 The lobbying scandal that surrounded Lord Cameron’s work for Greensill sparked a series of inquiries at Westminster. And Greensill’s failure was estimated by a parliamentary inquiry in 2021 to have cost taxpayers up to £5bn – though the final burden borne by the taxpayer is not yet known.The former prime minister insisted he had broken no rules on behalf of the company, but admitted he should have communicated with the government through “formal channels” rather than via text and WhatsApp.Lord Cameron repeatedly attempted to secure access to a government-backed Covid loan scheme for Greensill. He and his staff sent ministers and officials around 73 increasingly desperate emails, texts and WhatsApp messages relating to the collapsed firm in under four months. He claimed it was “nuts” and “bonkers” for the firm to be denied the loans.A parliamentary investigation found that Lord Cameron had shown a “significant lack of judgement” over the lobbying saga. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Keir Starmer has promised special training for mental health professionals to support people who self-harm in a bid to bring down suicide rates.The Labour leader said “too many families are being ripped apart” by suicides, rates of which have been increasing since the Conservatives came to power in 2010.Then, there were 9.3 deaths by suicide per 100,000 people in England and Wales, compared with 10.7 in 2022.And, with a general election expected this autumn, Sir Keir pledged a focus on self harm to reverse the trend, saying mental health professionals will be trained to spot cases and intervene early.He said prevention would be at the heart of a Labour government, saying: “The value of getting in front of problems is no more apparent than when it comes to our children’s mental health.”Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer promised to reverse the trend of rising suicide rates (Peter Byrne/PA)“The number of children showing signs of acute distress is heart breaking, and behind those stats are millions of families going through hell. Urgent action is vital, and my government will deliver it,” he added.And, expanding on the party’s focus on suicide, Sir Keir said: “Almost all of us can think of someone who has tragically lost their life to suicide. Too many families are being ripped apart by grief after losing a loved one to suicide. It is a raw pain – that fact alone should shock us all into action.”Labour has promised to recruit 8,500 new mental health professionals, to offer specialists in every school and guarantee treatment within four weeks to anyone who needs it.It says the change is funded by scrapping a tax loophole used by private equity companies.And it has now promised the 8,500 new mental health professionals will be given “specialist self-harm training”.Research by the charity Samaritans has found that people who self-harm can be turned away from primary mental health services for being “too high risk”, meaning they are left without the vital support that they need.And analysis of NHS England figures shows hospital admissions due to intentional self-harm and overdose have more than doubled since 2011.Samaritans welcomed Labour’s pledge, with chief executive Julie Bentley saying “more specialist trained mental health staff would play a big part in ensuring that there is ‘no wrong door’ in the health system for people who self-harm or experience suicidal thoughts”.Mental health charity mind also welcomed the promise, saying “in many cases, it could save lives”.Chief executive Dr Sarah Hughes said: “The ongoing fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with a deepening cost of living crisis, have led to more and more people struggling with their mental health, many to the degree they are self-harming. We know that young people have been hit particularly hard.“So, we welcome this promised step towards making sure people get the support they need.”And Brian Dow, deputy chief executive at Rethink Mental Illness, called it a “sensible idea which could reduce the risk of people taking their own lives”.“We will never address the chasm between rising levels of demand and the lack of provision within mental health services unless we have a workforce with the skills to help people with their problems as early as possible,” he added. More

Aerial footage shows moment RAF Typhoon strikes Yemen military targetFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsUS officials have issued a warning over the missile capability of the Houthi militia despite major airstrikes against nearly 30 locations on Thursday and Friday.The UK joined the US-led operation in hitting more than 60 missile and drone targets in response to the group targeting ships in the Red Sea.But despite around 90 per cent of the targets being hit, two US officials warned on Sunday that the group retained about three-quarters of its ability to fire missiles and drones at vessels using the narrow strip of water.Speaking on condition of anonymity, the New York Times reported that the two officials said only about 20 to 30 percent of the Houthis’ offensive capability had been destroyed.They said the difficulty was that much of the offensive weapons were on mobile platforms and could be moved or hidden.It comes as the Lord Cameron warned Britain could strike Houthi targets again if the rebel group continued to attack ship in the Red Sea.Suggesting that the Iran-linked militants could force up prices in Britain, he said that not acting would be accepting that Houthi attacks could “virtually shut a vital sea lane with relative impunity”.Show latest update
1705243851Hezbollah sees all maritime navigation in danger after US strikes on YemenThe Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Sunday that the United States was wrong if it thought the Houthis of Yemen would stop confronting Israel in the Red Sea, saying U.S. actions there had endangered all maritime navigation.Describing U.S. and British strikes on Yemen as an act of stupidity, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the Houthis would continue targeting ships belonging to Israel and going to its ports.“The more dangerous thing is what the Americans did in the Red Sea will harm all maritime navigation, even the ships that are not going to Palestine, even the ships which are not Israeli, even the ships that have nothing to do with the matter, because the sea has become a theatre of fighting, missiles, drones and war ships,” he said.“Security has been disrupted.”Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 January 2024 14:501705241100John Rentoul: Will war in the Middle East cast a shadow over a Starmer government?The shadow cabinet is more deeply divided than it appears. Labour is still subject to less media scrutiny than the Conservatives, despite the widespread assumption that Keir Starmer will become prime minister this year.Most Labour MPs are also more disciplined than most Tory MPs because they can feel election victory within their grasp, whereas the Tories are either fed up or have given up, and so are happier to be rude about each other in private and in public.As ever in politics, Labour’s divisions are a mixture of the personal and the ideological, and foreign policy is one of the hidden fractures threatening the foundations of an incoming government.Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 January 2024 14:051705239527Why are Britain and US attacking Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels?The attacks came after the Houthis launched their largest attack on Red Sea shipping, one of 27 such assaults since 19 November.Officials said that 21 missiles and drones were fired at warships and commercial vessels near the Bab al-Mandab Strait earlier this week, the southern bottleneck of the Red Sea, with US and UK warships blowing them out of the sky.Here is what we know so far:Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 January 2024 13:381705236961Germany to take part in EU Red Sea naval mission – legislatorGermany is expected to participate in a European Union naval mission to protect shipping in the Red Sea that EU foreign ministers will approve this month, the head of the German parliamentary defence committee said.Speaking at her party’s reception for the new year on Sunday, Maria-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said the aim of the mission would be for EU frigates to protect commercial vessels passing through the strait.The approaches to the Suez Canal, one of the world’s most important shipping lanes, have been all but paralysed by attacks on passing vessels by Iran-backed Houthi forces on the Yemen coast.“This is an attack on free trade and has to be countered,” Strack-Zimmermann said. Newspaper Welt am Sonntag earlier reported that the German frigate Hessen would set sail for the Red Sea on Feb. 1.Parliament must approve any foreign deployment of Germany’s armed forces.Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 January 2024 12:561705235147RAF strikes not an escalation of war in the Middle East, Lord Cameron insistsLord Cameron has denied RAF strikes in Yemen will escalate the picture in the Middle East, as he warned the world faces a period of great peril.The Foreign Secretary insisted it was the Houthi rebels who had taken steps to escalate conflict in the region with their attacks on container ships passing through the Red Sea.The militant group, which backs Hamas, claims they have targeted ships with links to Israel.The Houthis’ actions have posed a threat to the flow of global trade, disrupting merchant vessels from passing through the sea to the Suez Canal, a route which serves 15% of world shipping.The Foreign Secretary denied that the UK had escalated the situation by taking part in US-led air strikes on Houthi military facilities across Yemen overnight on Thursday.He had previously warned the RAF could join the USA in further strikes against the Houthis in order to deter their attacks.“The escalation has been caused by the Houthis. I mean the point is since November 19, you have had these 26 attacks”, Lord Cameron told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.He added: “There have been more of them, they have been getting worse, and you know, not acting is also a policy, it is a policy that doesn’t work.”Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 January 2024 12:251705234053Mapped: How the US and UK attacks on Houthi rebels took place and what weapons were used?Huge explosions were seen in Yemeni cities including Sana’a and Hodeidah in the early hours of Friday, with the US military saying 60 strikes were launched against 16 sites linked to the Houthis’ military operations.Below, The Independent looks at how the attacks unfolded and what weapons were used in the strikes.Maryam Zakir-Hussain14 January 2024 12:071705232329 More