Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of reported civilian casualties in Maqbanah, Taiz following coalition air strikes in Yemen on 24 February 2024; and whether that target was engaged by the Royal Air Force.

A Royal Air Force Typhoon package carried out a deliberate strike on 24 February against Houthi military facilities in Yemen which had been conducting missile and drone attacks on commercial shipping and coalition naval forces in the Red Sea. The two sites targeted were Bani and Sanaa, a distance of some 300 kilometres from Maqbanah, Taiz. The RAF did not overfly the area. The current assessment is that all RAF targets were effectively destroyed with no evidence of civilian casualties or damage to civilian infrastructure.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has robust targeting policies which are entirely consistent with our obligations under International Humanitarian Law. UK forces observe all practicable precautions in planning and carrying out military action and conduct a rigorous assessment before and after striking a target. The MOD will investigate any credible reports that UK actions may have caused civilian casualties.