Israel strikes Yemen a day after Eilat drone attack

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the premier had ordered the airstrikes on the Houthis while making his way to the United Nations annual debate in New York on his “Wing of Zion” plane.

By Akiva Van Koningsveld, JNS

The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday attacked Houthi targets in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, a day after a drone launched by the Iranian-backed terrorist group wounded 22 people in the southern Israeli city of Eilat.

“We have just delivered a powerful strike on numerous terrorist targets of the Houthi terrorist organization in Sana’a,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in Hebrew, dubbing the raid “Operation Pass the Parcel.”

The Israeli Air Force “attacked several military camps, including a camp of the Houthi General Staff, eliminated many dozens of Houthi terrorist operatives and destroyed stockpiles of UAVs and weapons,” he said.

“As I promised yesterday: Whoever harms us will be struck twice as hard,” added Katz.

The Israeli strikes reportedly coincided with a televised address by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the terrorist organization’s most senior leader.

Air Force aircraft and fighter jets hit “targets belonging to the security and intelligence apparatus and to the army of the Houthi terrorist regime in the Sana’a area deep inside Yemen,” the IDF said.

Among the targets were the Houthis’ general staff command, security and intelligence compounds, a military propaganda office and several camps used to store arms and train fighters in the Sana’a area, it stated.

“The strikes were carried out in light of attacks launched by the Houthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel, in which unmanned aerial vehicles and ground-to-ground missiles were fired toward Israeli territory,” the IDF said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the premier had ordered the airstrikes on the Houthis while making his way to the United Nations annual debate in New York on his “Wing of Zion” plane.

Netanyahu “received regular updates from the defense minister, chief of staff and his military secretary,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said.

Twenty-two people were wounded, including two seriously, when a drone launched by the Houthis impacted near a major shopping center adjacent to Eilat’s main boardwalk on Wednesday evening.

The Israeli Air Force opened an investigation after two Iron Dome interceptor missiles apparently failed to down the suicide drone.

An initial probe identified what caused the failed interception attempt, and “corrective measures were implemented,” the IDF said Thursday.

The Houthis have carried out missile and drone attacks on the Jewish state—including a direct missile hit near Ben-Gurion International Airport on May 4—since the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

In response, Jerusalem has conducted several rounds of strikes against the Iranian-backed terrorist group, including an Aug. 28 operation that killed their “prime minister” and several other high-ranking officials.