PRIME Minister Andy Burnham has committed an RAF Voyager tanker to refuel Saudi warplanes for several weeks.
The decision comes as Saudi air strikes on residential areas of Yemen killed a mother, her two infants and four other civilians.
Burnham told reporters on his flight to the United Nations in New York that he had granted a Saudi request for help.
Yemeni forces had advanced to areas adjacent to the Bab al-Mandab strait, which Riyadh has used to export oil while shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is disrupted.
‘We have received a request from Saudi Arabia for military support and … I agreed to that request for defensive air-to-air refuelling.
‘On cost of living pressures and acting to secure the interests of Britain, the wider region … we need to keep those pathways open,’ he said.
The tanker, expected to fly from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, adds to the Sky Sabre air defence system Britain already operates in the kingdom.
The government insists it will not support Saudi strikes on Yemen.
Action on Armed Violence rejected that distinction, warning that refuelling extends the range and endurance of combat aircraft.
It said ministers have not explained how the tanker’s use will be policed.
RAF Voyagers were tracked supporting United States forces during Operation Rough Rider in 2025, including around the April 17 strike on Ras Isa port. The Pentagon assessed that 80 civilians were killed and 171 injured in that strike.
‘However much the MoD would have it, accountability does not just stop at the nationality of the aircraft that releases the weapon,’ said Iain Overton, the group’s executive director.
Saudi Arabia spent an estimated $83.2 billion on its military last year and operates 22 refuelling aircraft of its own.
It also executed a record 322 people in 2025, according to Human Rights Watch.
Since March 2015, the Saudi-led war and blockade on Yemen, armed and backed by Britain and the US, have killed tens of thousands of Yemenis.
On Monday, Saudi jets bombed a residential building in al-Mokha and a market in Ta’izz province, and struck al-Jawf.
Air raid sirens and explosions sounded across the Saudi border province of Najran yesterday as Yemeni forces retaliated with ballistic missiles, and flights at Abha airport were suspended.
Burnham was due to meet Donald Trump yesterday and said he would urge him to end the US-Israeli war on Iran.
‘Of course the message is that we want to see an end to the conflict as quickly as possible and we stand ready to play our part,’ he said.
