Israel launched a series of airstrikes across Yemen on Thursday morning targeting key infrastructure in territories controlled by Iran’s Houthi allies in the wake of a missile strike overnight.
Since October 7, when Iran-backed Hamas invaded Israel sparking the Gaza war, Iran’s Houthis in Yemen have launched more than 200 missile and 170 drones at Israel, most of which were intercepted before reaching Israeli territory.
But the early Thursday morning attack, which badly damaged a school in Ramat Gan, north of Tel Aviv, triggered a wave of counterattacks, after almost daily firing from Yemen over recent weeks.
Israel sent 14 fighter jets that flew a distance of more than 1,700 kilometers, among the targets, the ports of Ras Issa, Hodeidah and al-Salif. A total of eight tugboats were attacked and in Sana'a, fuel tanks, oil, and a power plant were hit. Nine people were believed to have been killed in Yemen so far.
The attacks, which followed the missile strike on Israel at 2:38am, began at 3:15am, the first wave in the coastal area of Yemen, and the second wave at 4:30am in the Sana'a area.
The Houthis have been targeting Israel directly along with imposing a maritime blockade on the Red Sea region. Initially aimed at forcing a ceasefire in Gaza, and targeting Israeli-linked shipping, it has since expanded to all international shipping, with dozens of international seamen taken hostage since it began in November 2023.
A statement from the Israeli military said IAF fighter jets worked with the direction of the Intelligence Directorate and the Israeli Navy.
Calling out Iran for its role in the more than one year bombardment, having funded, trained and armed the group, designated terrorists by countries including the US and UK, the military said: “The targets struck by the IDF were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes. The strikes degrade the Houthi terrorist regime, preventing it from exploiting the targets for military and terrorist purposes, including the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the region.
“Over the past year, the Houthi terrorist regime has been operating with the direction and funding of Iran, and in cooperation with Iraqi militias in order to attack the State of Israel and Israeli civilians, undermine regional stability and disrupt global freedom of navigation.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the strikes represent the further collapse of Iran's network of military allies which Israel has been fighting in the wake of last year's Iran-backed Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7.
"After Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are almost the last arm of Iran's axis of evil. They are finding out, and will find out, the hard way that whoever harms Israel – will pay a very heavy price," he said, referring to a devastating campaign against Iran's largest ally, Hezbollah, in recent months, and more than a year of war against Gaza-based Hamas, which has left the group massively weakened.
In July, the US levied yet more sanctions against members of the Houthis for involvement in financing. “The Houthis in Yemen continue to receive vast revenues from the illicit shipment of Iranian commodities. This funding stream enables the Houthis’ ongoing attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways,” a statement from Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman said.
According to the Council of Foreign Relations, Iranian military support to the Houthis began as early as 2009, amid the Houthis’ first war against Yemen’s government.
“Most experts agree that the Houthis were receiving weapons from Iran by 2014, the year they captured Sanaa. In both cases, military intervention against the Houthis by Iran’s regional rival, Saudi Arabia, likely catalyzed Tehran’s increased interest in the group,” research from the think tank found.
The group, like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, have become part of what is known as Iran’s ‘axis of resistance’ of militia around the region, formed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as a means to bolster power and bring down Israel and the US presence in the Middle East.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday morning: ”We attacked strategic targets of the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen once again tonight … We will not accept rockets being fired at Israel, nor damage to shipping lanes. We will strike with force and will not allow the continuation of the situation of shooting and threats against the State of Israel."
In the aftermath of the attacks, Muhammad al-Bahithi from the Houthi political bureau, said that "the American-Israeli attack on civilian facilities in Yemen, power plants and ports, exposes the hypocrisy of the West”, though Israel and the US had not confirmed their involvement in the strikes overnight.
The US and UK have, however, launched a series of joint strikes against the Houthis since the blockade began last year, the US heading an international coalition to combat the action which has massively impacted global shipping.
“Our military operations in support of Gaza will continue, escalation will be met with escalation until the genocide in Gaza stops and food, medicine and fuel are brought in for the residents,” al-Bahithi said.
On Thursday, the Israeli military said that an interception had led to shrapnel damage in the wake of the attack.
"It is likely that the damage was caused by partial interception of the missile launched from Yemen and that the missile warhead was the part that exploded and damaged the school," a statement said, an investigation underway.
