UK to provide Saudi Arabia with 'defensive' military support, says Burnham - BBC

Share Save Add as preferred on Google Chris Mason , Political editor , Frank Gardner , Security Correspondent and Isabella Allen and Richard Wheeler NurPhoto via Getty Images A single British aircraft, an RAF Voyager, is believed to be involved in the operation. Britain is set to deploy a military aircraft to help refuel Saudi Arabian fighter jets in the country's conflict with the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

The RAF Voyager plane, operating from a UK base in Cyprus, will begin "air-to-air refuelling" operations in the coming days after the UK agreed to a request from Saudi Arabia, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said.

He added the support was for "purely defensive" Saudi missions and would be time-limited for a "matter of weeks, rather than days".

The Houthis are locked in a civil war with Yemen's internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.