The Israeli Air Force conducted strikes on Yemen’s western coast and deep inside the country on Thursday evening, including Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-controlled capital, the IDF said.
Despite the grave threat that the Houthis pose to international shipping and the fact that the jihadi group began its unprovoked missile campaign against Israel shortly after October 7, the UN condemned the strikes.
The spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the attacks on Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport, the Red Sea ports and power stations were “alarming.”
The UN’s concerns were reiterated by Guterres’ spokesperson, who claimed that the attacks in Yemen could lead to an even greater regional conflict.
The situation prompted the United Nations Security Council to call for an emergency session on Monday to discuss the rising tensions.
Israel’s targets included the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations, in addition to terror infrastructure in the Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Kanatib ports.
“These military targets were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials. This is a further example of the Houthis’ exploitation of civilian infrastructure for military purposes,” the IDF said.
“The Houthi terrorist regime is a central part of the Iranian axis of terror, and their attacks on international shipping vessels and routes continue to destabilise the region and the wider world. … The IDF will not hesitate to operate at any distance against any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens,” added the statement.
The strikes came during a televised address by Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.
“Israel’s deterrence has failed against our country,” al-Houthi reportedly said. “The Israeli enemy knows that our operations continue, they are effective and influential. Our missiles, which the [Israeli] defence systems did not succeed in intercepting, have caused great frustration in Israel and the US,” he added.
Speaking from the Israeli Air Force headquarters after the strike on the second night of Chanukah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is engaged in a modern-day Maccabean struggle.
“We are determined to cut off this terrorist arm of Iran’s axis of evil,” Netanyahu said. “We will persist in this until we complete the task.”
Sitting beside Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz said that anyone responsible for attacking Israel is a potential target.
“We will hunt down all the Houthi leaders—we will strike them as we have done in other places,” Katz said. “No one will be able to evade Israel’s long reach.”
Netanyahu on Wednesday threatened Yemen’s Houthis, speaking at his office in Jerusalem before lighting the menorah on the first night of Chanukah.
“Like then, we are striking at our enemies. … The Houthis will also learn what Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime and others have learnt, and this will also take time. This lesson will be learnt across the Middle East,” he said.
On Tuesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to target the Houthi leadership.
“I warned and said that just as we dealt with [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar in Gaza, [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniyeh in Tehran and [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah in Beirut, we will also deal with the heads of the Houthis in Sanaa and everywhere in Yemen,” said Katz.
Hours later, Israel’s Arrow 3 air-defence system intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile.
The projectile was downed before crossing into Israeli airspace, but air-raid sirens were triggered across much of central Israel due to the threat of falling shrapnel.
Seven people were injured attempting to reach protected areas in the greater Tel Aviv and Judean Foothills (Shfela) regions, while two people were treated for anxiety, according to the Magen David Adom emergency medical service.
Houthi terrorists have launched over 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in support of Hamas since the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on October 7.
The terrorist group has escalated its attacks in recent days, scoring hits on Israel’s densely populated central region.
Overnight Monday, a woman in her 60s was critically injured when she struck her head while rushing to a shelter in Tel Aviv during sirens triggered by another Houthi missile. MDA paramedics treated 25 people who were lightly hurt running to shelters or who suffered anxiety attacks.
Earlier on Monday, the IDF shot down a Houthi attack drone before it crossed into Israeli airspace.
Shortly before dawn last Thursday, the warhead from an intercepted missile hit an elementary school in Ramat Gan, collapsing the school’s main building but causing no injuries.
Following a failed interception overnight Friday, a missile hit a playground in a residential area of Jaffa, lightly wounding 16 people.
The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency session on Monday to discuss the escalating Houthi attacks, at Israel’s request.
In 1900, there were about 50,000 Jews in Yemen. Following centuries of discrimination and persecution, Israel’s “Operation Magic Carpet” from 1949 to 1950 brought nearly all remaining Yemenite Jews home.
The last one remaining, Levi Marhabi, has been imprisoned by the Houthis since 2016 for allegedly helping a Jewish family flee with a Torah scroll.
The United Nations, however, expressed grave concern over the situation.
Muhammad Ali al-Houthi, a prominent member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, made inflammatory remarks regarding Israel.
He declared that the Yemeni people would continue to support Gaza, “no matter the sacrifices.” He also said, “The Yemeni people do not fear the Jews and do not care about any threats, but rather consider them hollow statements.”