Sorry, Mr Sunak – even ‘minor’ military raids in the Middle East spin out of control

Editorial: The prime minister is wrong to believe his excursions into Yemen, in lockstep with the US, will be easily contained. He must now explain how victory is to be achieved – and his plan if the Houthis keep looking for trouble

A Typhoon plane bound for Yemen takes off from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus (AP)

If the prime minister today sought to reassure the House of Commons, and the country more widely, that the government has a clear strategy for the engagement against the Houthi forces in Yemen, he was not entirely successful.

Pressed on the question of the dangers of escalation, Rishi Sunak rightly pointed out that perhaps Hamas and the Houthis could de-escalate their own aggression. As the prime minister implies, had the Houthi left their considerable arsenal of cruise missiles and suicide drones undisturbed recently, then there would have been no airstrikes on Houthi bases in Yemen, no casualties, and no threat of more destruction.

It is only because the Houthi “rebels” – in reality, a de facto government in control of much of Yemen – attacked civilian vessels, kidnapped merchant seafarers and tried to sink HMS Diamond that the US and Britain, supported by Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, have found it necessary to interrupt the Houthi’s piracy and terrorism.