By Josef Federman and Michael Wakin | Associated Press
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen early Sunday, hours after Israeli warplanes struck several Houthi targets in the Arabian Peninsula country.
The Israeli airstrikes — in response to a deadly Houthi drone strike on Tel Aviv — were the first time Israel is known to have responded to repeated Houthi attacks throughout its nine-month war against Hamas. The burst of violence between the distant enemies has threatened to open a new front as Israel battles a series of Iranian proxies across the region.
The Israeli army late Saturday confirmed the airstrikes in the western Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, a Houthi stronghold and crucial entry point for aid and other supplies. It said the strikes, carried out by dozens of aircraft, including U.S.-made F-15 and F-35 warplanes, were a response to hundreds of Houthi attacks.
The Health Ministry in Yemen said the Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 83 others, many with severe burns from a major fire. Another three people were missing, the ministry said in a statement shared by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam posted on X that the “blatant Israeli aggression” targeted fuel storage facilities and the province’s power station.
”The Israeli enemy picked those targets specifically as part of their targeting of the Yemeni economy,” said Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, leader of the rebels.
The Israeli military said that the surface-to-surface missile fired Sunday was intercepted before reaching Israeli territory.
Israel, along with the U.S., the U.K. and other Western allies with forces in the region, have intercepted almost all of the Houthi missiles and drones. But early Friday, a Houthi drone penetrated Israel’s air defenses and crashed into Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial and cultural capital, killing one person.
An Israeli air force official said Sunday that human error accidentally classified the drone as a non-threat as Israel was simultaneously tracking other drones launched from Yemen and approaching Israel from the east.
The Israeli military said Saturday’s strike on Hodeidah, about 1,700 kilometers (more than 1,000 miles) from Israel, was among the most complicated and longest-distance operations by its air force. It said it hit the port because the area is used to deliver Iranian arms to Yemen.
Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, vowed to carry out similar strikes “in any place where it may be required.”
The Houthis are among several Iranian-backed groups to have attacked Israel in solidarity with Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian militant group triggered the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza.
In addition to fighting Hamas, the Israeli military has been engaged in daily clashes with the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. These clashes have raised concerns that the fighting could spill over into a full-blown war with Lebanon and beyond.
Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since 2014, when the Houthis seized much of the north and forced the internationally recognized government to flee from Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of government forces, and in time the conflict turned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.
The Houthis said Israel’s attacks will only make Yemen’s people and armed forces more determined to support Gaza. “There will be impactful strikes,” Mohamed Ali al-Houthi of the Supreme Political Council in Yemen wrote on X.
“All of this won’t stop the Yemeni people or the Yemeni leadership, military and missile forces in targeting the Israeli entities,” said Moatasem Abdel Salah, a Sanaa resident.
Since January, U.S. and U.K. forces have been striking targets in Yemen, in response to the Houthis’ attacks on commercial shipping that the rebels have described as retaliation for Israel’s actions in the war in Gaza. However, many of the ships targeted weren’t linked to Israel.
On Sunday, officials said that the Houthis repeatedly targeted a Liberia-flagged container vessel transiting the Red Sea, the latest assault by the group on the crucial maritime trade route.
The captain of the ship reported attacks from three small Houthi vessels, an uncrewed Houthi aerial vehicle and missile fire off the coast of Mocha, Yemen, resulting in “minor damage” to the ship, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. The Joint Maritime Information Center, a coalition overseen by the U.S. Navy, identified the ship as the Pumba and reported “all crew on board safe.”
Early Sunday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pumba.
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Analysts and Western intelligence services have long accused Iran of arming the Houthis, a claim Tehran denies. The joint force airstrikes so far have done little to deter them.
The Houthis have long-range ballistic missiles, smaller cruise missiles and “suicide drones,” all capable of reaching southern Israel, according to weapons experts. The Houthis are open about their arsenal, regularly parading new missiles through the streets of Sanaa.
Michael Wakin reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Melanie Lidman contributed to this report from Jerusalem.
