{"id":809302,"date":"2026-10-21T04:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T04:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/809302\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T04:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T04:12:14","slug":"uk-fighter-jets-to-protect-saudi-arabia-from-houthi-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/809302\/","title":{"rendered":"UK fighter jets to protect Saudi Arabia from Houthi attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain will deploy Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia<\/a> to help defend the kingdom against increasing attacks by Yemen’s Houthi<\/a> rebels, the UK<\/a> government announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The aircraft will protect Saudi cities and critical infrastructure from drones and missiles, the Ministry of Defense said. They will not carry out offensive strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“The continuing attacks from the Houthis on our ally Saudi Arabia are absolutely despicable,” British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting said.<\/p>\n

He particularly condemned attacks on Riyadh’s international airport, which has been targeted 20 times since the beginning of October.<\/p>\n

\"SmokeRiyadh’s international airport has seen a string of attacks claimed by the HouthisImage: Social Media\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

Strikes on the airport<\/a> have killed at least 18 people and wounded hundreds this month, according to reports.<\/p>\n

What additional military support is Britain providing?<\/p>\n

The deployment follows a request from Saudi Arabia and expands military assistance announced by London in September.<\/p>\n

Britain will also send an Atlas A400M military transport aircraft and military advisers. It has extended its offer to provide air-to-air refueling for Saudi aircraft operating against the Houthis for another 90 days.<\/p>\n

The announcement comes as Yemen’s civil war continues to escalate<\/a> following the collapse of a years-long truce in September.<\/p>\n

Houthi attacks<\/a> have increasingly targeted Saudi oil facilities and civilian infrastructure. The rebels have also imposed a naval blockade and attacked tankers, disrupting oil exports and pushing up energy prices.<\/p>\n

\"SmokeHouthi rebels have targeted oil facilities in Saudi Arabia too [PHOTO: October 3]Image: REUTERS<\/p>\n

Inside Yemen, authorities said a Houthi strike on Monday killed 58 people at a training camp for Saudi-backed government security forces.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia and the United States<\/a> accuse Iran<\/a> of supporting the Houthis, an allegation Tehran denies.<\/p>\n

How is the conflict affecting Saudi Arabia’s economy?<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia has postponed its flagship Future Investment Initiative conference, informally known as “Davos in the Desert,” until 2027.<\/p>\n

The event, originally scheduled for October 26-29, was expected to attract leading international financiers.<\/p>\n

According to media reports, major banks and private equity firms had raised security concerns<\/a> about attending the event.<\/p>\n

The conference is a key part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to attract foreign investment and diversify its economy away from oil.<\/p>\n

Edited by:\u00a0Roshni Majumdar<\/p>\n

If you rely on our team for trusted reporting, please take a moment to select us as your Preferred Source on Google<\/a>, so you’ll always see our verified news first.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain will deploy Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia to help defend the kingdom against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-809302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}