British Army soldiers are on a secret mission in the Middle East to protect people against deadly attacks from thhe Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The troops are from the Royal Artillery Regiment and are working 24 hours a day to prevent drone attacks from the Yemen-based forces.
The Mirror reports that missile experts are working as part of Operation Crossways amid ongoing worry over a large-scale conflict starting in the region. The Houthis are fighting Saudi Arabia and have attacked ships from the West after announcing Israel as their enemy.
The UK has sent navy ships to the Red Sea to guard against Houthi missile and drone strikes on boats. But sending regular soldiers to shoot down Houthi missiles was kept quiet, found only on the 12 Regiment Royal Artillery website, and is “highly sensitive,” sources say.
Operation Crossways was at first just a training mission in Saudi Arabia but got attention for helping local forces who were said to be committing atrocities in Yemen. Now, with the Houthis planning attacks on Saudi cities, threatening Israel, and hitting Western ships in the Red Sea, the Saudis are more alert. This deployment by the 12 Royal Artillery isn’t listed on the British Army’s main website for overseas missions.
The regimental website simply states: “Operation Crossways – Saudi Arabia – deployed with high-velocity missile self propelled HVM SP to defend our allies from modern attack UAVs.” British and American officials are trying to calm the Middle East conflict, while feeling compelled to protect Arab allies.
This action comes after fears that Yemeni rebels might attack the Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh, potentially escalating the Middle East war and drawing the UK and US into a larger conflict. It’s thought that regular gunners from the Royal Artillery Regiment have been stationed outside the city.
Based in Hampshire, they’re a highly specialised air defence unit armed with advanced missiles capable of intercepting fast drones. The Starstreak SP HVM has warheads ready to fire and is equipped with a roof-mounted air defence alerting device to detect any drone threat. Why the deployment was announced online by the unit remains unclear.
A senior military source said: “Until now this has been kept very quiet as it is politically and potentially explosive – people will automatically think the UK is getting in a wider conflict. These troops are being used in defensive role and if they stop UAV attacks on Saudi soil then we can reduce the chance of the war escalating further across the Middle East.”
After recent US and UK airstrikes, attacks on ships in the Red Sea have decreased. But Houthi leaders say they’ll keep attacking until Israel stops fighting in Gaza. The UK-made missile system that’s proven useful in Ukraine was the first to shoot down Russia’s KA-52 helicopter, which President Vladimit Putin said couldn’t be destroyed.
The Moscow-made helicopter is nicknamed “alligator” and costs about £10 million. Now, Israel is getting ready for a big attack on Rafah, in southern Gaza, where over a million Palestinians live.
Last night, it was said that since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, which started the war in Gaza, up to 7,000 Palestinians have been taken hostage in the West Bank. In the last day, another 133 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, with 162 hurt, and the number of people who died trying to save hostages in Israel went up to 74.
