On 20th July Israeli warplanes killed three people and left dozens of others injured in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeida, a day after the Iran-backed outfit claimed a deadly attack on Tel Aviv. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded directly to the Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv on 19th July which killed a 50-year-old Israeli. The IDF stated that its fighter jets hit “military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime” in the vicinity of Hodeidah Port. Israeli officials asserted that this was their first strike in Yemen.
Houthis have launched hundreds of missiles and drones on Israel since last year which were intercepted until the latest attack that killed one person and injured at least 10. It struck just yards from a United States Embassy branch office after which they declared that Tel Aviv was no longer safe and would be the new target for the group. The Houth terrorists responded to the strikes by threatening to “plague” Israel with more assaults. According to Houthi-run Al Masirah TV, the attack aimed at the port’s oil facilities on Yemen’s west coast, resulted in at least three fatalities and 87 injuries, the majority of them with “severe burns.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared later in the evening that the port was targeted because it was utilized “for military purposes.” He highlighted that the hit “makes it clear to our enemies that there is no place that the state of Israel’s long arm will not reach.” He voiced that his nation will defend itself “by all means.” In a televised speech, he forewarned, “Anyone who harms us will pay a very heavy price for their aggression,” alleging the port served as a point of entry for Iranian weaponry.
Furthermore, he urged the international community to increase pressure on Tehran and its proxies, the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah in order to help safeguard international trade channels. “Whoever wants to see a stable and safe Middle East needs to stand against Iran’s axis of evil, and support Israel’s struggle against Iran and its proxies.”
According to Yoav Gallant, the minister of defence, his nation wanted to make a statement to the Houthi movement. He declared, “The blood of Israeli citizens has a price,” and warned further action against the Houthis “if they dare to attack us.” He highlighted, “The fire that is 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. And we will do this in any place where it may be required.”
The Israeli military informed that on the 21st of July morning, it had intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired from Yemen before it entered the country’s airspace. It added that Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat activated air sirens “in response to the possibility of falling shrapnel.”
Mohammed Abdulsalam, a Houthi spokesman, described it as a “brutal Israel aggression against Yemen.” The Israeli bombings, he alleged, were intended to put pressure on the Houthis to cease their assistance for the Palestinians in Gaza, which he insisted would not happen. Israel reportedly attacked a neighbouring power plant and oil storage facilities along the coast, according to the Houthi-run government in Sanaa.
Yehya Saree, the spokesperson for the Houthi army, promised to retaliate to the attack, stating that the Houthis would not think twice before hitting Israel’s “essential targets” and cautioning that Tel Aviv, a significant city that is home to numerous diplomatic missions, was still unsafe. “We have prepared for a long war with this enemy until the aggression stops and the blockade on the Palestinian people is lifted.”
“After nine months of continuous aerial attacks by the Houthis in Yemen toward Israel, IAF [Israeli Air Force] fighter jets conducted an extensive operational strike over 1,800km (1,118 miles) away against Houthi terrorist military targets” in the area of the port of Hodeidah. The IDF is capable of operating anywhere required and will strike any force that endangers Israelis,” informed IDF in a statement.
According to IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari, the attacks were also a reaction to the approximately 200 rockets that the terrorist group had fired in Israel since the start of the conflict with Hamas in Gaza in October. Israel had notified allies in advance of the strike, which it revealed was executed by Israeli F-15 aircraft, that made a safe return.
Meanwhile, reports of the strikes were of “deep concern” to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of the UN, according to a UN statement. “The Secretary-General calls on all concerned to avoid attacks that could harm civilians and damage civilian infrastructure,” it read.
