As the UK and US strike Houthi targets in Yemen, they are realising fears about a broader Middle East conflict

Fears that tensions over the Gaza war would spill into a broader regional conflict have been realised as the United Kingdom and United States conduct air strikes on targets inside Yemen. Washington and London authorised their jets to attack what they called strongholds of the Houthi rebels, a fundamentalist Shia-Islam group aligned with Iran. The attack comes after the Houthis carried out a two-month campaign of drone attacks on ships in the Red Sea in what they said was support for the Palestinians of Gaza. The Houthis publicly said they would be targeting Israeli ships, but in recent weeks have…