Israel attacks Houthi targets after missile attack

Israel has said its warplanes carried out a series of strikes against military targets in Yemen belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi movement.

An Israeli military spokesman said the targets included Red Sea ports and energy infrastructure in the capital, Sana’a.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported that nine people were killed in the port of Salif and the Ras Issa oil terminal, both in Hudaydah province.

The attacks came hours after a missile fired from Yemen was intercepted over central Israel. A school and several cars were damaged in Ramat Gan, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

The Houthis, who control northwest Yemen, began attacking Israel and international shipping shortly after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel’s military says hundreds of missiles and drones have since been launched at the country from Yemen, most of which have been intercepted.

In the early hours of Thursday, Israelis in and around Tel Aviv were sent running into bomb shelters when air defenses shot down an incoming missile.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that a missile was fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory and that after the interception damage was identified to a school in the Ramat Efel neighborhood of Ramat Gan. No injuries were reported, he added.

The IDF is investigating whether the school building collapsed after being hit by part of the missile or fragments of the interceptor missile. Education Minister Yoav Kisch said he believed it was “a direct hit from a warhead, after it was probably intercepted.”

Two hours after the attack, the IDF announced that its fighter jets had attacked Houthi military targets on the western coast and interior of Yemen.

According to Houthi-led Al Masirah, seven people were killed in an Israeli attack on the Red Sea port of Salif, while two people were killed and one wounded at the nearby Ras Issa oil terminal. Two others were reportedly injured in the port of Hudaydah, just to the south.

The TV channel also said the Haiz and Dhahban power plants, south and north of Sanaa, had been attacked.

The director of the General Electricity Corporation, Meshaal al-Rifi, was quoted as saying that the local electricity supply had been affected by damage to electricity distribution stations and fuel tanks.

“The Houthis have been carrying out attacks against Israel in violation of international law, and the Houthi regime is a threat to peace and security in the region,” said IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

“Today, the IDF carried out precise strikes against 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.”

An Israeli military official said the operation was “planned” and that the 14 planes and other aircraft involved “were already in the air” when the Houthis launched their missile, according to the Financial Times.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Houthi leaders that “Israel’s long hand will reach out to them too.”

“Whoever raises a hand against the State of Israel, his hand will be cut off. Whoever harms us, he will suffer seven times more harm,” he added.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group had launched two “hypersonic” ballistic missiles at two “sensitive military targets” in the Tel Aviv area at the same time as the Israeli strikes, and that the operation had “successfully achieved their objectives”.

“Israeli aggression will not deter Yemen and the Yemenis from fulfilling their religious and moral duty to respond to its massacres in the Gaza Strip, as well as from responding to this brutal aggression by continuing to support and attack all hostile targets with appropriate weapons,” he said. aggregate.

It was Israel’s third direct attack against the Houthis in five months.

In July, the Israeli military attacked the Hudaydah port and oil infrastructure after a Houthi drone strike killed one person in Tel Aviv. It bombed Hudaydah again in September after a Houthi missile targeted Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport.

The United States and the United Kingdom have also carried out strikes against Houthi weapons and other military targets over the past year in response to attacks on global shipping in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

On Monday, US Central Command said it had attacked a “key command and control facility” in Sana’a that had been a hub for coordinating attacks.

The Houthis have attacked dozens of merchant ships with missiles, drones and small boats since November 2023. They have sunk two vessels, seized a third and killed four crew members.

They say they are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They have claimed – often falsely – that their targets are ships linked only to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom.