Israel has bombed key ports in Yemen as well as the country’s capital Sana’a in response to more than a year of missile and drone attacks launched by the country’s Iran-allied Houthi militia, the military said on Thursday.
Dozens of fighter jets, tanker aircraft and reconnaissance planes were deployed in two waves to attack military targets some 1,700 kilometres from Israel, according to the military.
“We did this in response to repeated Houthi attacks against civilian targets in Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Since the onset of the Gaza war more than a year ago, Yemen’s Houthis have targeted Israel and merchant vessels in the Red Sea, stating these actions are in solidarity with the Palestinian organization Hamas in Gaza.
Three key ports used by the Houthis, a long-time adversary of Israel, were hit and put out of operation on Thursday, a military spokesman said.
The ports are not only considered an important trading centre for Iranian weapons deliveries for the Houthis, but are also used for international aid shipments for the population of the impoverished, war-torn country on the Red Sea.
Israel also attacks capital
For the first time, the Israeli Air Force also unleashed strikes on the capital Sana’a, bombing the city’s energy infrastructure, the spokesman said.
It was the third time Israel had targeted the Houthis with airstrikes following attacks in July and September.
Nine people were killed in Thursday’s strikes on the western coastal province of Hodeidah, the Houthi-affiliated al-Masirah broadcaster reported.
Al-Masirah TV reported seven people had been killed in the port of al-Salif and two others at the Ras Isa oil facility.
It also reported strikes targeting two power plants in the capital Sana’a.
One power plant, north of Houthi-controlled Sana’a, went out of service due to the bombardment, depriving the city of more than 30% of its electricity needs, al-Masirah reported.
According to Israel, the port of Hodeidah was also bombed.
The militia’s chief Abdel-Malek al-Houthi reacted defiantly later Thursday.
“The Israeli aggression on our country will never discourage us from our position in support of the Palestinian people,” he said in a televised address.
“We are fully convinced of our position and are ready to confront any level of escalation,” he added, according to al-Masirah.
Israeli school hit by missile fragments
Israel repelled a missile attack launched from Yemen overnight.
The strikes on Yemen were not a direct response to that attack but had been planned long in advance, according to the Israeli military.
The Houthis have claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement that they targeted “two specific and sensitive military targets” in Jaffa next to Tel Aviv.
A school near Tel Aviv was badly damaged when a missile fired from Yemen was shot down early on Thursday, according to Israeli media reports.
The Houthis, who are aligned with Israel’s arch-enemy Iran, like the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement, have continued their attacks on Israel even after the ceasefire in Lebanon.
According to the Times of Israel newspaper, the Houthis have fired around 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the past 12 months. Israel was able to intercept most of the missiles, it said.
The militia claims it operates in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been waging war against the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas since the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Recently, a house in Israel was hit by a drone strike from Yemen. In July, a man in Tel Aviv was killed when he was struck by a projectile from Yemen.
In retaliation for Houthi attacks, Israel targeted sites in Yemen in July and September, including power stations and a port, resulting in several fatalities.
