Our security and defence experts are analysing last night’s US and UK strikes against Iran-backed militia groups.
One of the security and defence analysts said there seems to be a “fundamental contradiction” when it comes to what the UK is doing and saying.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has said this round of strikes does not mark an escalation, but Haynes explains that it will be seen as “escalatory action” by the Houthis, Tehran and the group of Iranian-backed militia operating across the Middle East.
“As long as the tensions continue, as long as both sides are firing missile at each other, the risk of escalation into all out war is real,” she adds.
Of course, the strikes on the Houthis come in response to the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, which it says is in retaliation to Israel’s military operation in Gaza.
It has vowed to continue the attacks until Israel’s occupation of the region ends.
At the same time, other Iran-backed militia groups have been involved in rising tensions across the Middle East.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for an attack on an airbase in Jordan that killed three American troops last weekend.
The strike sparked a retaliatory attack from the US, which launched a wave of strikes on 85 targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday night.
Haynes explains that all of these elements are “intrinsically linked” to escalating tensions and make the risk of war real.
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