The RAF aircraft were allocated multiple targets located at two sites.
Intelligence analysis had successfully identified several very long-range drones, used by the Houthis for both reconnaissance and attack missions, at a former surface-to-air missile battery site several miles north-east of Sanaa. Our aircraft used Paveway IV precision guided bombs against the drones and their launchers, notwithstanding the Houthis' use of the old missile battery revetments to try to protect the drones.
Previous RAF strikes, on 11 January and 3 February, had already successfully destroyed a number of buildings used to support drone and cruise missile operations at Bani, some fifteen miles west of Abbs airfield in north-western Yemen. Additional buildings at the Bani site had subsequently been confirmed as also being involved in the drone and missile activities there and were therefore targeted during this latest strike.
In planning the strikes, as is normal practice with such RAF operations, the greatest possible care was taken to minimise any risk of civilian casualties.
