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Israeli warplanes have struck targets across Yemen, including the international airport, energy facilities and ports, for the second time in a week. This marks an escalation in attacks in retaliation for recent rocket attacks by Iran-backed Houthi fighters.
The Israeli military said Thursday it had carried out “intelligence-backed strikes” on targets used by the Houthis for “military activities,” as well as entry points into Yemen used by Iranian officials and arms smugglers.
The affected locations included Sanaa International Airport, two power plants and three ports on the country’s west coast, including Hodeidah.
According to local Yemeni media reports, at least four people were killed and 16 injured in the attacks, but the extent of damage to various facilities remains unclear.
A humanitarian delegation led by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, was present at Sana’a airport during the attacks.
According to a statement from Tedros, one of the delegation’s flight crew members was injured, although he said the UN and WHO officials were “safe.”
“We have to wait until the damage at the airport is repaired before we can leave,” he added.
According to Israeli media reports, around two dozen warplanes took part in the daytime raid, Israel’s fourth direct attack on Yemen since last summer Second in as many weeksafter the Houthis recently increased their rocket attacks on the Jewish state.
“We are determined to cut off this terrorist arm of the Axis of Evil in Iran. We will continue to do so until we complete the task,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
At least five ballistic missiles have been fired into central Israel in the past 10 days, including early Christmas morning, sending millions of residents into bomb shelters.
On two occasions, Israeli air defenses failed to fully intercept the incoming projectiles, with one landing on a school and another on a playground in the Tel Aviv area, slightly injuring 16 people.
The Houthis, who control northern Yemen and the capital, began firing on merchant ships in the Red Sea and firing hundreds of armed drones and rockets at Israeli Palestinians following the October 7, 2023 attack by the Gaza-based militant group Hamas. Their attacks significantly disrupted shipping on one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.
Along with Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, the Houthis formed an Iran-led “Axis of Resistance” whose capabilities have been severely limited by Israel in recent months.
A naval task force led by US and British forces has been trying to protect merchant ships in the region. Last week, coalition jets themselves launched airstrikes on what the US military described as Houthi “command and control centers” in Sanaa.
The militants’ leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, was giving his weekly televised address when the bombings began.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed again Thursday to “hunt down” the Houthi leadership and “behead” the group, just as he said Israel had done to Hamas and Hezbollah.
Still, Houthi officials have vowed to continue their attacks on Israel and international shipping as long as the war in Gaza continues.
