“Last night, the UK and US carried out airstrikes on targets in Yemen,” writes Ash Sarkar for Novara Media. “The Americans hit 60 targets at 16 sites, and four British Typhoon jets struck two Houthi facilities. Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands provided non-operational support.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer was quick to back the strikes, saying, ““Clearly the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have to be dealt with… We do support this action.”

It should be remembered that both the US and UK provided fulsome support to the Saudi-led coalition bombing of Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world,  between 2015 and 2022. Britain alone licensed at least £6.5 billion worth of arms to the Saudi-led Coalition in this period.

As Labour Hub previously reported, “The casualties of the war in Yemen run to more than 100,000 dead with almost as many killed by hunger and disease caused by the Saudi blockade of the country’s ports. Yet in March 2021, the UK government decided to cut – almost by half – its aid to Yemen, a decision condemned by over 100 charities, including the usually cautious Oxfam, Christian Aid, Save the Children and Care International.”

Whether the current ceasefire in the Yemen conflict endures is now thrown into question. More fundamentally, the attack by Western powers represents an alarming regional escalation of the genocidal war Israel is waging on the Palestinian people, with Iran denouncing the air strikes as a violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and a breach of international law.

Keir Starmer’s immediate support for Sunak’s bombardment of Yemen flies in the face of the fact that most people in Britain support a Middle East ceasefire and will be appalled by the escalation of the conflict in this way. It was left to others to speak on their behalf.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn MP tweeted: ““Military action in Yemen by the UK & US government is a reckless act of escalation that will only cause more death and suffering,” concluding, “When will we learn from our mistakes and realise that war is not the answer?”

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP echoed the call by Corbyn and others for Parliament to have the right to decide on any military action, adding: “If we have learnt anything in recent years it’s that military intervention in the Middle East always has dangerous & often unforeseen consequences. There is a risk of setting the region alight.”

Zarah Sultana MP also demanded that Parliament be recalled, as did Jon Trickett MP and many others.  

Starmer’s “full-throated support for military intervention in the Middle East without any vote in Parliament, despite ample opportunity,” Momentum tweeted, is at complete odds with his leadership election pledge to promote peace and human rights.

Former Corbyn adviser Andrew Fisher said the UK’s strikes against Yemen’s Houthis marked a “double standard”, as the Houthis’ attacks on shipping lanes have not resulted in deaths, while Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed over 23,000 Palestinians.

And campaigning journalist Owen Jones poured scorn on the Labour whips’ “ludicrous and undemocratic” instruction to Labour MPs “not to comment on breaking news and to limit posts on social media to amplifying the front bench position as the situation develops.”

As Western leaders beat the drums of war – often for their own reasons and in pursuit of hidden agendas – it is clear to most people that if the Israeli military ended their indiscriminate slaughter of civilians in Gaza, Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea would almost certainly stop. Tomorrow’s mass demonstration in London must amplify the call for an immediate ceasefire.