Israeli Jets Strike Houthi Targets In Yemen After Tel Aviv Attack

TEL AVIV: Israel has launched deadly air strikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah in Yemen.

This aerial assault carried out by the IDF (Israel Defence Force) on July 20 comes in response to a drone attack orchestrated by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels targeting Tel Aviv.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said his country aimed to send a befitting reply to the Houthi movement, who have been at loggerheads with the Jewish state due to Israel's siege in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

"The fire that is currently burning in Hodeidah, is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear," he said.

Houthi-linked news outlet Al Masirah said the strikes targeted oil facilities in the port on Yemen’s west coast, killing at least three people and injuring 87, most of them with “severe burns.”

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam said the strikes had also hit civilian targets and a power station. He denounced the Israeli attack by calling it as “brutal Israeli aggression” aimed at increasing the “suffering of the people of Yemen” and pressuring the group to stop its support of Gaza.

Houthi army spokesperson Yehya Saree vowed to retaliate saying the Houthis would not hesitate to strike Israel’s “vital targets” and warning that Tel Aviv – a major city home to scores of diplomatic missions – was still not safe.

“We have prepared for a long war with this enemy until the aggression stops and the blockade on the Palestinian people is lifted,” Saree affirmed.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted 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 supplied to the Houthis by Iran,” Netanyahu said, adding that Hodeidah had also been used to attack international shipping in the Red Sea.

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