Israeli Air Force jets struck Houthi terrorist targets in Yemen on Saturday following a deadly drone attack by the Iran-backed group in Tel Aviv the previous day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed.
“From the beginning of the war, I made it
clear that Israel would harm anyone who harms us,” Netanyahu said in
public remarks on Saturday night. “Accordingly, earlier today, I
convened the Security Cabinet and asked it to support my proposal to
attack the Houthi targets in Yemen.”
The strikes, which Israel said hit several
“military targets” in the port city of Hodeidah, appeared to be the
first on Yemeni soil since the Houthis joined the war against the Jewish
state in support of Hamas in October.
An F-15 fighter is seen at an IAF airbase ahead of an Israeli strike in Yemen, July 20, 2024.
“The Israeli Air Force struck dual-use
infrastructure used for terrorist activities, including energy
infrastructures,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.
Netanyahu said the strikes were a “direct
response to the drone attack that killed an Israeli citizen and wounded
several others. It also followed the Houthi’s aggression against the
State of Israel since the start of the war. Over the past eight months,
the Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise
missiles and drones towards Israel.”
An Israeli man was killed and four other
persons were wounded at 3:12 a.m. on Friday when what the Israel Defense
Forces described as an “aerial target” exploded in a residential
neighborhood in central Tel Aviv. The slain man was identified as
Yevgeny Ferder, 50, who immigrated from Belarus around two years ago to
escape the Russia-Ukraine war.
Medics treated a woman in her 20s and a
man in his 30s for shrapnel wounds at the scene before evacuating them
to the hospital. Two others were wounded either by shrapnel or the
shockwave of the blast.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the
attack, saying they used an advanced suicide drone dubbed “Jaffa.”
Hagari confirmed that the UAV was an Iranian-made Samad-3, which was
upgraded to increase its strike range.
Netanyahu said on Saturday that the
retaliation against the Houthis hit targets some 1,120 miles from the
Jewish state. “There is no place that the long arm of the State of
Israel cannot reach,” he said.
“The port we attacked was not an innocent
port. It was used for military purposes and used as an entry point for
deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran,” the prime minister
said. “Like Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis are an integral part of
Iran’s Axis of Evil. This axis operates not only against Israel, it
threatens the peace of the entire world.”
Jerusalem expects the international
community to act against Iran and its proxies, confront Tehran’s
aggression and protect shipping lanes threatened by the Houthis,” he
said.
“Anyone who wishes to see a stable and
safe Middle East should stand against Iran’s Axis of Evil and support
Israel’s struggle against Iran and its proxies: in Yemen, Gaza and
Lebanon, everywhere,” the Netanyahu said.
Houthi terrorist spokesman Mohammed
Abdulsalam claimed that the “Israeli aggression” targeted fuel storage
facilities and a power station. He said the attacks aim “to pressure
Yemen to stop supporting Gaza.”
Yemen’s Al-Masirah television outlet,
which is controlled by the Houthis, reported that the strikes caused
deaths and injuries in the port area. It said there was a large fire at
the port and widespread power cuts.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant
remarked on Saturday, “The fire currently burning in Hodeidah is seen
across the Middle East and the significance is clear. The Houthis
attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli
citizen, we struck them.
“We will do this in any place needed. The
blood of Israeli citizens has a price. This has been made clear in
Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and other places—if they dare to attack us, the
result will be identical,” he said.
Since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, the Houthis
have fired several missiles and drones against the Jewish state, the
great majority of which were intercepted by Israeli, U.S. or Saudi
forces or missed their targets.
The Houthis since mid-November have also
carried out many drone and missile attacks on ships in the Red Sea, in
addition to numerous acts of piracy against commercial and military
vessels.
The Iran-backed terrorist organization’s
official slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews,
Victory to Islam.”
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