A series of intense Israeli air attacks have hit Yemen’s capital and a port city, killing at least nine people.
Israel’s military said that it had attacked “military targets” belonging to Houthi fighters “in the western coastal strip and deep inside Yemen,” after intercepting a missile fired by the group towards Israel. “The targets attacked are used by the Houthi forces for their military operations,” the military said in a statement.
Al Masirah TV, the main news outlet run by Yemen’s Houthi movement controlling much of the country, disclosed that seven people were killed in an Israeli attack on the port of as-Salif and the rest in two strikes on the Ras Isa oil facility; both are located in the western province of Hodeidah.
The agency reported that “the enemy” launched four aggressive raids targeting the port.
It added that the series of “aggressive raids” also targeted two central power stations south and north of the capital, Sanaa.
Israeli military spokesman, Daniel Hagari said that its forces had carried out attacks on Houthi military sites, including ports and energy infrastructure in Sanaa.
It followed the firing of a Houthi missile towards Israel overnight – which was destroyed – and repeated attacks over the past 14 months.
The Houthis said that they had carried out an operation targeting two “sensitive military targets” in Israel’s Yaffa area, south of Tel Aviv, with two ballistic missiles. “The operation has successfully achieved its objectives,” read a statement published on Yemen’s state news agency Saba.
It said that the attacks took place “simultaneously” with Israeli air raids on civilian infrastructure in Sanaa and Hodeidah, adding, “The Israeli aggression will not deter Yemen and the Yemenis from performing their religious and moral duty in responding to its massacres in the Gaza Strip.”
Houthi fighters in Yemen have carried out months of attacks on Israel, and shipping linked to Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, in what it says is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 45,000 people – the majority being women and children.
Posting on X after Israel’s strikes, Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz said, “I warn the leaders of the Houthi terrorist organisation: Israel’s long hand will reach you as well.”
He asserted that whoever raises a hand against the state of Israel, “his hand will be cut off; whoever harms, will be harmed sevenfold.”
Separately, President Isaac Herzog thanked Israeli soldiers, claiming that they inflicted a “heavy blow” to the Houthis, who he said sought “to harm [Israel] and the entire region.”
“In recent hours we have witnessed the tremendous capabilities of the Air Force in protecting the citizens of Israel and in the attack against the Houthis in Yemen.”
Isaac Herzog
US Named As Part of Israeli Attacks
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi’s political bureau, claimed that the US is part of the recent Israeli attacks on his country. “The US-Israeli bombing of civilian facilities in Yemen [power stations and ports] reveals the truth about the West’s hypocrisy and refutes all its humanitarian claims,” he said, adding that the attacks will not stop the Houthis from supporting Gaza.
He stressed that the Houthis would meet escalation with escalation until the genocide crimes in Gaza stop and food, medicine and fuel are allowed to enter its residents.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei said that the latest Israeli strikes in Yemen constitute “a gross violation of the principles and norms of international law and the UN charter.”
He added that Israel’s actions were being carried out “under the unconditional support of the United States … Washington is an accomplice in the lawlessness and crimes of the criminal gang ruling Tel Aviv.”
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