Israel has launched widespread airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, killing at least nine people in the port city of Hodeidah, and threatened more attacks against the group, which has launched hundreds of missiles at Israel over the past year.
According to Israeli media, dozens of combat jets along with fuelling and intelligence aircraft took part in the raids. There had been reports beforehand that Israel was planning to hit Yemen with force after a recent increase in Houthi attacks, including two in the past week.
Commenting on the latest Houthi attack, the rebels’ spokesperson Yahya Saree said they had fired hypersonic ballistic missiles at “two specific and sensitive military targets … in the occupied Yaffa area” near Tel Aviv. The claim regarding the type of missile was unverified.
The Israeli military said it was investigating whether an incomplete interception by its aerial defences had led to parts of a missile hitting a school in the area of Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.
The Iran-backed Houthi forces have been regularly firing long-range missiles at Israel in what they say is a show of solidarity with Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza.
Al-Masirah, a Houthi media channel, said a series of “aggressive raids” had been launched against the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, and Hodeidah. It said the airstrikes killed nine people – seven in Salif and two at the Ras Issa oil facility, both in the western province of Hodeidah.
Two sources at the port of Hodeidah told Reuters that an Israeli strike had destroyed a tugboat but the port had several others capable of towing ships to the dock. The strikes also targeted two central power stations south and north of Sana’a, which Al-Masirah said had cut electricity to thousands of families.
Israel’s military said it had “conducted precise strikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen, including ports and energy infrastructure in Sana’a, which the Houthis have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military actions”.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement: “After Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are almost the last remaining arm of Iran’s axis of evil. The Houthis are learning, and will learn the hard way, that those who strike Israel will pay a very heavy price for it.”
In comments released by the Israeli air force’s command centre, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said: “I warn the leaders of the Houthi terrorist organisation: Israel’s long arm will reach you too.”
The Israel Defense Forces issued a statement accusing the Houthis of “conducting attacks against Israel in contravention of international law” and adding that “the Houthi regime constitutes a threat to the region’s peace and security”.
After the Israel strikes, a Houthi official said the group would “respond to escalation with escalation”.
Muhammad al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political bureau, said: “The American-Israeli bombings of civilian facilities in Yemen expose the hypocrisy of the west. Our military operations to support Gaza will continue and we will respond to escalation with escalation until the crimes of mass extermination in Gaza stop and the possibility of bringing food, medicine and fuel into the strip is allowed.”
Iran condemned the Israeli strikes in Yemen as a “flagrant violation of the principles and norms of international law and the UN charter”.
