CNN
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Israel The airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen came a day after Iran-backed Houthi rebels declared a deadly attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday that its warplanes had struck “military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime” near Yemen’s port of Hodeidah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this was in direct retaliation for the death of a 50-year-old Israeli in a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv on Friday.
According to Israeli officials, this is the first time Israel has attacked Yemen.
The Houthi-run Al-Masira TV said the Israeli attack targeted oil facilities at a port on Yemen’s western coast, wounding at least 80 people, most of them with “severe burns”.
Houthis Spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said the airstrikes also hit civilian facilities and power plants. He denounced the Israeli attacks as a “brutal Israeli aggression” aimed at increasing “the suffering of the Yemeni people” and pressuring them to end support for Gaza.
Houthi military spokesman Yehya Saree vowed to respond to the attack, saying the Houthis would not hesitate to attack Israeli “high-value targets” and warning that Tel Aviv was not yet safe.
“We are preparing for a long war with this enemy until the aggression stops and the blockade against the Palestinian people is lifted,” Salih said.
Matteo Pracucci/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
Israeli firefighters inside a building damaged by a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv.
In a statement on Saturday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said Hodeida was “not an innocent port.”
“It was used for military purposes and as an entry point for lethal weapons supplied by Iran to the Houthis,” Netanyahu said, adding that Hodeida was also used to attack international shipping in the Red Sea.
Netanyahu also said the operation, which struck a target 1,800 kilometers from the Israeli border, showed enemy Israel was serious about addressing the threat.
“We have made it clear to our enemies that there is no place that the long arm of the State of Israel does not reach,” Netanyahu said.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the attack was also in retaliation for some 200 projectiles fired by rebels at Israel since October, when Israel and Hamas began their war in the Gaza Strip.
Since the war began, Yemeni rebels have regularly attacked the country with drones and missiles, most of which have been intercepted by Israeli and allied defenses, but the Houthis claim that Friday’s drone attack in Tel Aviv, which injured 10 people, was the result of a new type of drone capable of “bypassing enemy interception systems.”
The Houthis also regularly attack U.S. sites and merchant ships in the Red Sea.
Both the UK and the US responded to the attacks on the ships by carrying out strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen, but Israel has not joined in those responses.
An Israeli defense official told CNN that this was a 100 percent Israeli attack. He said Israel had previously let the US and Britain take the lead in responding to Houthi attacks, but this time, after an Israeli citizen was killed in Tel Aviv, it decided to respond itself.
Officials said Israeli Defense Minister Gallant notified U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before the attack.
Defense officials added that Israel was able to strike so quickly because it had been preparing for this scenario for months.
A White House official said US President Joe Biden had been briefed on “developments” in the Middle East. A White House National Security Council spokesman said the US was not coordinating with Israel over the airstrikes, but added that the US fully recognised “Israel’s right to self-defence”.
The attack on Hodeidah comes amid rising tensions in the region.
Iran-backed Lebanese Islamist groups have stepped up cross-border attacks with Israel in recent weeks after months of low-intensity fighting, and the Israeli military has warned it is ready to launch a major offensive on the country’s northern border.
After the Hodeida attack, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir congratulated Netanyahu on the operation and said “Israel should adopt a similar policy towards Lebanon’s Hezbollah.”
Gvir’s views were echoed by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, with Smotrich saying Israel must continue to strike “with all its might, even at great distances,” and Gallant saying “there is a price in the blood of Israeli citizens” and that “the result will be the same” no matter where Israelis are attacked.
“The fires that are burning right now in Hodeidah are being seen across the Middle East and their importance is clear,” Gallant said.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah condemned the attacks on Yemen, saying “we stand firmly with the Yemeni people in defense of themselves, their sovereignty and the heroic and historic position they take with Palestine.”
Hamas also condemned the attack, calling it a “dangerous escalation.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Katz called on the international community to “strengthen sanctions against Iran to the maximum extent possible.”
“Iran supports, trains and funds the Houthi terrorist group as part of a regional terrorist network aimed at attacking Israel,” he said.
“Iran is the head of the snake and it must be stopped now,” Katz added.
Iran condemned the Israeli attack on Hodeida, and Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Israel’s actions in Gaza were the “root” of rising tensions and warned of the risk of war in the region.
“The oppressed yet powerful people of Yemen are paying the price for their honorable support to Gaza’s innocent civilians, women and children,” Kanani said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
