At least 3 killed and 87 injured, Houthis say, as Israeli warplanes hit Yemen a day after Tel Aviv drone attack | CNN

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At least three people were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli air strike on a Yemeni port, Houthi rebels said, a day after the Iran-backed group launched a deadly attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. .

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its warplanes attacked “military targets of the Houthi terrorist government” in Yemen’s Hodeidah Port area on Saturday, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. is a direct response to the death of a 50-year-old Israeli in a Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday.

This is the first time Israel has struck Yemen, according to Israeli officials.

The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said the attacks targeted oil facilities in a port on Yemen’s west coast, killing at least three people and wounding 87, many of them “severely burned.”

The Houthi spokesman, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said the strikes also affected civilian targets and the power station. He condemned what he called “Israel’s barbaric brutality” aimed at increasing the “suffering of the Yemeni people” and pressured the group to stop supporting Gaza.

Houthi army spokesman Yehya Saree vowed to respond to the strike, saying the Houthis would not hesitate to hit Israel’s “important targets” and warned that Tel Aviv – home to many cities – it is still insecure.

“We are ready for a long war with this enemy until the violence stops and the ban on the Palestinian people is lifted,” Saree said.

On Sunday, Israel said it had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen. “The projectile did not cross Israeli territory. There were calls for rockets and missiles after the chance to fall. The incident is over,” the IDF said.

Netanyahu said in a statement on Saturday that Hodeidah “was not an innocent port.”

“It was used for military purposes, it was used as an entry point for deadly weapons given to the Houthis by Iran,” Netanyahu said, adding that Hodeidah was also used to attack ships. International Red Sea.

Netanyahu also said that the operation, which hit a target 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles) from Israel’s borders, shows that Israel’s enemy is ready to respond to threats.

“It makes it clear to our enemies that there is no place that the long arm of the state of Israel cannot reach,” Netanyahu said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a UN statement he was “deeply concerned” by reports of strikes.

“The response to Israel’s aggression against our country will come and it will be big and big,” the Houthi rebels warned in the statement, adding that they would continue their operations against the ships. Israel, America and Britain until Israel ends its “siege”. in Gaza.

“The Secretary-General calls on all concerned to avoid attacks that could injure civilians and damage public services,” the statement read.

The IDF spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said these shots were also in response to about 200 rockets and drones that the rebel group has launched into Israel since October, when Israel’s war with Hamas ended. Gaza begins.

Since the start of the war, Yemeni rebels have repeatedly attacked the country with drones and missiles, most of which were intercepted by Israeli defenses or those of its allies. However, the Houthis said their drone attack on Tel Aviv Friday – which injured 10 people – was carried out by a new drone capable of “overrunning enemy systems.”

The Houthis have repeatedly attacked US targets and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

Both the UK and the US have responded to the naval attacks by striking Houthi targets in Yemen. However, Israel did not participate in those responses.

An Israeli defense official told CNN that this was a 100% Israeli strike. The official said that Israel had previously allowed the US and the UK to take the lead in responding to Houthi attacks but decided to respond this time because of the death of an Israeli citizen in Tel Aviv.

According to the official, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant informed US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before the strike was carried out.

The security official added that Israel was able to strike quickly because it had been preparing for this situation for many months.

A White House official said US President Joe Biden has been briefed on “developments” in the Middle East. A spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council said the US has never cooperated with Israel in airstrikes, but added that the US fully recognizes “Israel’s right to self-defense.”

The Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah – Arabic for ‘Supporters of God’ – is a Shi’ite Islamic political and military organization supported by Iran, which emerged in the 1990s.

Like the chants used by Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, the Houthis’ official motto reads, “God is Greatest.” Death to America. Death to Israel. Curse the Jews. Victory to Islam.”

In 2014, Houthi forces aligned with former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh seized control of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, from the UN-recognized Yemeni government, sparking a civil war that has cover the country since then.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have led a coalition in Yemen against Houthi forces.

Recently, this group has been seen in many parts of the Sunni Muslim world and more as fighters for the Palestinian cause, defending the people of Gaza against Israel.

Since October 7, Houthi rebels have carried out a series of missile and drone attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, asserting that these ships are linked to Israel and its allies, which has increased tensions. throughout the Middle East.

In recent weeks, Hezbollah has stepped up cross-border attacks with Israel after months of low-intensity fighting, prompting the Israeli military to warn that it is ready to launch a major offensive along its border. you are in the north.

After the Hodeidah strike, Israeli Defense Minister Itamar Ben Gvir praised Netanyahu for the move and said Israel should “adopt a similar strategy against Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Gallant echoed Ben Gvir’s sentiments. Smotrich said Israel must continue to attack “with all its might even in remote areas,” while Gallant said “the blood of Israeli citizens has a price,” and that wherever Israelis are attacked “the results will be the same.”

“The fire that’s burning right now in Hodeidah, it’s seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear,” Gallant said.

Hezbollah in Lebanon condemned the attack on Yemen and said “we stand firmly with the Yemeni people in defense, their independence, and their fierce and historic position next to Palestine.”

Hamas also condemned the attack, calling it a “dangerous escalation.”

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on the international community to “increase sanctions on Iran.”

“Iran supports, trains and finances the Houthi terrorist organization as part of a network of terrorist organizations committed to attacking Israel,” he said.

“Iran is the head of the snake – it must be stopped now,” Katz added.

Iran condemned the Israeli attack on Hodeidah. Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has warned of the risk of war in the region, saying Israel’s actions in Gaza are the “root” of the growing conflict.

“The oppressed but strong people of Yemen are paying the price for their honorable support of the innocent civilians, women and children of Gaza,” Kanaani said.