At least six people were killed and scores more injured in Israeli airstrikes on a Yemeni port, Houthi rebels have said, a day after the Iran-backed group claimed a deadly attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its fighter jets struck “military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime” in the area of Yemen’s Hodeidah Port on Saturday, in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was a direct response to the death of a 50-year-old Israeli in a Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday.
This is the first time Israel has struck Yemen, according to Israeli officials.
The Houthis said at least six people were killed, three are missing while a further 83 people were injured in the strikes, which hit oil facilities.
Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam said the strikes had also hit civilian targets and a power station. He slammed what he said was “brutal Israeli aggression” aimed at increasing the “suffering of the people of Yemen” and pressuring the group to stop its support of Gaza.
Houthi army spokesperson Yehya Saree vowed to respond to the strike, saying the Houthis would not hesitate to strike Israel’s “vital targets” and warning that Tel Aviv – a major city home to scores of diplomatic missions – was still not safe.
“We have prepared for a long war with this enemy until the aggression stops and the blockade on the Palestinian people is lifted,” Saree said.
On Sunday Israel said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen. “The projectile did not cross into Israeli territory. Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling shrapnel. The incident has concluded,” the IDF said.
‘Not an innocent port’
Netanyahu said in a statement on Saturday that Hodeidah was “not an innocent port.”
“It was used for military purposes, it was used as an entry point for deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran,” Netanyahu said, adding that Hodeidah had also been used to attack international shipping in the Red Sea.
Netanyahu also said the operation, which hit targets 1,800 km (1,118 miles) from Israel’s borders, shows the enemy Israel is serious about responding to threats.
“It makes it clear to our enemies that there is no place that the long arm of the state of Israel will not reach,” Netanyahu said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a UN statement he was “deeply concerned” by reports of the strikes.
“The response to the Israeli aggression against our country is inevitably coming and will be huge and great,” Houthi rebels warned in a statement following the attack, adding that they will continue their operations against Israeli, American, and British ships until Israel stops its “siege” on Gaza.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the strikes were also in response to the roughly 200 missiles and drones the rebel group has launched towards Israel since October, when Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza began.
Since the start of the war, the Yemeni rebels have regularly targeted the country with drones and missiles, most of which have been intercepted by Israel’s defenses or those of its allies. However, the Houthis have claimed their drone attack in Tel Aviv Friday – which also injured 10 people – was performed by a new drone capable of “bypassing the enemy’s interception systems.”
The Houthis have also regularly attacked US targets and commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
Both the UK and the US have responded to the attacks on shipping by carrying out strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. However, Israel has not taken part in those responses.
An Israeli defense official told CNN that this was a 100% Israeli strike. The official said Israel had previously let the US and UK take the lead on responding to Houthi attacks but decided to respond itself this time because of the death of the Israeli citizen in Tel Aviv.
According to the official, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant informed US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin before the strike was carried out.
The defense official 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 spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said the US had not coordinated with Israel on the airstrikes, but added that the US fully recognizes “Israel’s right to self-defense.”
Who are the Houthis?
The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah – Arabic for ‘Supporters of God’ – is a Shi’ite Islamist political and military organization backed by Iran, that emerged in the 1990s.
Similar to chants used by Lebanon-based Iranian proxy Hezbollah, the Houthis’ official slogan reads, “God is the Greatest. Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse the Jews. Victory to Islam.”
In 2014, Houthi forces allied with former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh took control of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, from the UN-recognized Yemeni government, sparking a civil war that has afflicted the country ever since.
Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have led a coalition in Yemen against Houthi forces.
More recently, the group has come to be seen in parts of the largely Sunni Muslim world and beyond as champions of the Palestinian cause, defending the people of Gaza against Israel.
Since October 7, Houthi rebels have carried out numerous missile and drone attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, asserting that these vessels are linked to Israel and its allies, which has escalated tensions throughout the Middle East.
Regional tensions rise
In recent weeks Hezbollah has been ramping up cross-border attacks with Israel after months of low-intensity fighting, prompting the Israeli military to warn that it is prepared to launch a large-scale attack on its northern border.
Following the Hodeidah strike, Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir congratulated Netanyahu on the operation and said Israel should “adopt the same policy against Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Gallant echoed Ben Gvir’s sentiment. Smotrich said Israel must continue to attack “with all its might even in distant places,” while Gallant said “the blood of Israeli citizens has a price,” and that anywhere Israelis are attacked the “result will be identical.”
“The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah, is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear,” Gallant said.
Hezbollah in Lebanon condemned the attack on Yemen and said “we stand firmly with the Yemeni people in defending themselves, their sovereignty, and their heroic and historic stance alongside Palestine.”
Hamas also condemned the attack, calling it a “dangerous escalation.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz called on the international community to “maximize sanctions on Iran.”
“Iran supports, trains, and finances the Houthi terror organization as part of its regional network of terror organizations aimed at attacking Israel,” he said.
“Iran is the head of the snake – it must be stopped now,” Katz added.
Iran condemned the Israeli strike on Hodeidah. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Nasser Kanaani warned of the risk of war in the region, saying Israel’s actions in Gaza were the “root” of the escalating tensions.
“The oppressed but powerful people of Yemen are paying the price for their honorable support of the innocent citizens, women and children of Gaza,” Kanaani said.