Israeli fighter jets have struck Houthi military targets in Yemen a day after a drone launched by the Iranian-backed group hit Tel Aviv, the Israeli military said.
A number of targets were hit in the western port city of Hodeidah, around 1,100 miles away from Israel’s borders, threatening to open a new front in the region as Israel battles proxies of Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the port was used as an entry point for Houthi militia to receive Iranian weapons, adding that the strike was a reminder to enemies that there was no place that Israel could not reach.
In response to the strike, the Houthis said they will not hesitate in attacking "vital targets" in Israel.
Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen's Houthi movement, reported that the strikes were directed against oil facilities in the port and caused fatalities.
Hodeidah residents told Reuters that explosions were heard throughout the city during an intensive bombardment, while civil defence forces and firefighters were reported to be trying to extinguish fires in the port's oil tanks.
An Israeli military official said the operation hit dual-use targets including energy infrastructure.
Israel had informed allies ahead of the strike, which the military said was carried out by Israeli F-15 fighters which all returned safely.
The Houthis' Supreme Political Council said there would be an "effective response" to the Israeli airstrikes.
The strike on Yemen, which an official said came after more than 220 Houthi attacks on Israel, underlined fears that the Gaza war, triggered by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, could spiral into a regional conflict.
"The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement.
"The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required."
On Friday, a long-range Iranian-made drone launched from Yemen hit the centre of Tel Aviv in an attack claimed by the Houthis killed one man and wounded four others.
That attack followed an escalation in the daily exchange of fire between Israeli forces and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon and comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to travel to Washington where he is due to address the US Congress.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for broader international action to step up sanctions against Iran, which he said was supporting Houthi efforts to disrupt the freedom of the seas and trade routes.
"Iran is the head of the snake - it must be stopped now," he said on the social media platform X.
As the war in Gaza has gone on, the Houthis have stepped up attacks against Israel and Western targets, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
They began attacking Western ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden after Israel invaded the Gaza Strip following last year's attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel.
"A brutal Israeli aggression targeted civilian buildings, oil facilities and power station in Hodeidah aiming at pressuring Yemen to stop supporting Gaza," Mohammed Abdulsalam, chief negotiator for Houthi movement, said on X.
He said the attack would "only increase our determination, steadfastness, continuity".
Hamas stormed Israeli towns on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, nearly 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, according to health authorities in the enclave.
