Israeli airstrikes hit Houthi targets in response to drone attack
6:51 AM EDT, July 21, 2024
The Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes on several military targets held by Houthi rebels on Saturday, who control the western part of Yemen, the army reported. "IDF warplanes recently attacked military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the Hodeida port area in Yemen, in response to the hundreds of attacks against the State of Israel in recent months," the statement said.
Israeli aircraft targeted, among others, the port of Al-Hudaydah on the Red Sea. The airstrikes were a response to "hundreds of attacks against the State of Israel in recent months," the Israeli army emphasized in the statement.
Early Friday morning, a Houthi drone struck a residential building in Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring ten others.
Israel's necessary and proportionate strikes were carried out in order to stop and repell the Houthi's terror attacks after 9 months of continuous aerial attacks toward Israeli territory," said IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari in the statement.
The IDF spokesperson stressed that the targets of the strikes were infrastructures used for terrorist attacks on Israeli territory.
Houthi spokesman on "blatant aggression"
After the Saturday attacks, a Houthi spokesman stated that Yemen had fallen victim to "blatant Israeli aggression," which targeted fuel depots and an electric power plant, and the aim of these attacks was "to increase the suffering of the people and to pressure Yemen to stop supporting Gaza."
According to Houthi-controlled media, the airstrikes were intense, causing a large fire in the targeted port, and forcing power outages. Local medical authorities reported "numerous casualties and injuries" but did not provide specifics, reported AP.
Supported by Iran, the Houthis are one of the parties in the nearly 10-year-long civil war in Yemen. They control the western part of the country, where half of its population lives. After the outbreak of the Gaza Strip conflict in the fall of 2023, the Houthis began shelling ships passing through the Red Sea, declaring that the attacks were an act of solidarity with Hamas, with the aim being Israel and its trade exchanges.
