Israel strikes range of Houthi targets in Yemen

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Israeli warplanes hit targets across Yemen for the second time in a week, including international airports, fuel facilities and ports, marking an escalation of strikes in retaliation for recent missile attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants.

The Israeli military said on Thursday it had carried out “reconnaissance-based strikes” on targets used by the Houthis for “military activities” as well as manned entry points into Yemen used by Iranian officials and arms smugglers.

Among the sites hit were Sana’a International Airport, two power stations 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 wounded during the attack, although the extent of damage to various installations is still unclear.

A humanitarian delegation led by WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was present at Sana’a airport during the attack.

According to a statement by Tedros, one of the delegation’s flight crew members was injured, although he said UN and WHO officials were “safe”.

“We have to wait for the airport to repair the damage before we leave,” he added.

According to Israeli media reports, about two dozen warplanes took part in the daytime operation, Israel’s fourth such direct attack on Yemen since last summer. Second in as many weeksAfter the Houthis recently stepped up missile attacks on the Jewish state.

“We are determined to dismantle this terrorist arm of Iran’s axis of evil. We will continue this until we finish the job,” 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 on Christmas morning, sending millions of residents fleeing to bomb shelters.

On two occasions Israeli air defenses failed to fully intercept incoming projectiles, one landing in a school and the other in a playground in the Tel Aviv area, lightly injuring 16 people.

The Houthis, who control northern Yemen and the capital, began firing on merchant ships in the Red Sea and fired hundreds of armed drones and missiles at Israel after an October 7, 2023 attack by Gaza-based militant group Hamas, saying they were in solidarity. The Palestinians. Their attacks have severely disrupted shipping through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.

Together with Hamas, Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria, the Houthis form an Iranian-led “axis of resistance” whose power has been severely undermined by Israel in recent months.

A naval task force led by US and UK forces attempted to protect merchant ships in the area. Last week coalition jets themselves launched airstrikes on what the US military described as the Houthis’ “command and control” center in Sanaa.

Militant leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi was delivering his weekly television address when the bombings began.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday again vowed to “hunt down” the Houthi leadership and “behead” the group as he said Israel had done with Hamas and Hezbollah.

Yet Houthi officials have vowed to continue their attacks on Israeli and international vessels as long as the war in Gaza continues.