Who are the Houthis and why are the US and UK bombing them?
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 12 January 2024
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we look at why the UK and US have launched airstrikes on Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the strikes were "necessary and proportionate" to protect the global shipping routes in response to a series of attacks by the Houthis on commercial ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis say they have been supporting Hamas by targeting ships on route to Israel.
Meanwhile, the UK have announced a £2.5bn aid package to Ukraine with Rishi Sunak visiting Kyiv. This weekend also marks one of the first big elections of the year as people go to the polls in Taiwan, with China closely watching the result.
Adam talks to Sophia Gaston, head of foreign policy at the Policy Exchange and Sir Mark Lyall Grant, former permanent representative of the UK to the UN. They are also joined by the former NATO commander, Rear Admiral Dr Christopher Parry.
You can join our Newscast online community here: https://tinyurl.com/newscastcommunityhere Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by Adam Fleming. It was made by Jack Maclaren with Bella Saltiel and Joe Wilkinson. The technical producer was Jack Graysmark. The senior news editors are Jonathan Aspinwall and Sam Bonham.
Transcript
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| 0:21.8 | because there is loads of stuff happening in the rest of the |
| 0:24.8 | world so that's what we're going to dive into on this episode of newscast. |
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| 0:56.3 | Hello, it's Adam back in the studio where I feel most at home, if I'm honest. But we're not talking about what's happening at home |
| 1:04.6 | we're talking about what's happening abroad three big international news stories |
| 1:09.2 | today overnight we had the UK joining the US to take military action against the |
| 1:15.4 | huthies in Yemen who'd been attacking some international shipping that was |
| 1:20.4 | traveling through the Red Sea which was having knock-on consequences for the global that was |
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