JUST THE BEGINNING

Airstrikes will go on if Red Sea attacks continue. Militants warn they will respond to raids by RAF

- DAVE BURKE

MINISTERS have warned that airstrikes in Yemen will continue if attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea do not stop.

Britain and the US struck 36 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday night to weaken the Iran-backed fighters.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said: "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. Despite the Red Sea crisis deepening, the Government insisted the latest RAF strikes, the third in all, are not an escalation.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Houthis "will continue to bear further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks".

But the militants, who say they are hitting commercial ships in solidarity with Palestine, are refusing to yield.

A Houthi military spokesman said: "These attacks will not discourage Yemeni forces... from maintaining their support for Palestinians in the face of the Zionist occupation and crimes. "The aggressors' air strikes won't go unanswered."

The Houthis have been striking shipping since November in response to Israel's military operation in Gaza following Hamas' terror attack the previous month.