After 200 attacks, Israel strikes back at Yemen causing massive explosions

This is the first time Israel has struck inside Yemen despite 200 missiles and drones the Houthis have fired at Israel since October 7th. 

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

On Saturday, the Israeli air force struck strategic targets in Yemen to retaliate for the Iran-backed Houthis’ drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday that killed one and injured 10.

This is the first time Israel has struck inside Yemen despite 200 missiles and drones the Houthis have fired at Israel since October 7th.

Israel’s air force struck a gas and oil depot and a power station used for military purposes at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah.

The Houthis control the port, which is a significant supply route through which it receives weapons from Iran.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, said the operation was “one of the farthest and longest ever conducted by the Israeli air force.”

Nasruddin Amer, a Houthi spokesman, vowed to continue attacks against Israel, which he says were motivated by support for Palestinians during the war in Gaza.

“Yemen’s operations in support of Gaza will not stop,” he vowed. “The response to this aggression is inevitable.”

Israeli’s military said it was not tightening its emergency regulations following the attack in Yemen, which indicates that it doesn’t expect the strikes would escalate, as reported by The New York Times. 

The US National Security Council said in a statement, “We fully recognize and acknowledge Israel’s right to self-defense.”

The strikes on gas and oil depots caused massive explosions and fires across the area.

“The fire burning in Hodeidah is seen across the Middle East, and the significance is clear,” Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister, said after the attack.

“The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them — and we will do this wherever it may be required,” he added.
On Friday, the Houthi’s drone attack occurred at 3:12 am on Ben Yehuda Street in Tel Aviv, close to the US embassy.

One man in his 50s was declared dead when Magen Dovid Adom arrived on the scene and ten others were treated for shrapnel wounds and burns.