Israeli fighter jets strike Yemen in major operation

‘The purpose of the attack is to exact a heavy price for the attacks by the Houthis. If they continue to attack Israel, the attacks will increase,’ an Israeli official said.

By JNS

Israeli Air Force fighter jets carried out dozens of airstrikes on Houthi terrorist targets in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah on Sunday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed in a statement.

“In a large-scale operation, dozens of Air Force aircraft, including fighter jets, refueling and intelligence planes, under the direction of the Military Intelligence Directorate, attacked military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the areas of Ras Issa and Hodeidah in Yemen,” the IDF said.

“The IDF attacked power plants and a seaport, which are used to import oil,” according to the military statement.

“The attack was carried out in response to the latest attacks carried out by the Houthi regime against the State of Israel,” it added. “The Houthi terrorist regime has been operating under the direction and funding of Iran and in cooperation with Iraqi militias, in order to harm the State of Israel, undermine regional order, and disrupt freedom of navigation.”

Unnamed senior officials in Jerusalem told Israel’s Channel 12 that the damage following the airstrikes was “enormous,” adding that it will take the Houthis “a long time” to recover from the unprecedented attack.

“The purpose of the attack is to exact a heavy price for the attacks by the Houthis. If they continue to attack Israel, the attacks will increase,” an Israeli official told the country’s Ynet outlet.

“The message to Iran is that Israel can attack with tremendous power even at a distance of 2,000 kilometers [≈1,200 miles]. It can do it simultaneously in several arenas.

“Today, we attacked in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen,” the official said.

The leader of the Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, on Saturday night claimed that a surface-to-surface missile it had launched at central Israel hours earlier was timed to coincide with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s return to the Jewish state from the United States.

The IDF announced that the military’s aerial defense array had downed the Houthi terrorist missile “outside of the country’s borders.”

In a televised speech, the Houthi leader also vowed that the targeted killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on Friday would “not be in vain.”

Yemen’s Houthi militia, an Iranian proxy force, have launched multiple attacks on the Jewish state in support of Hamas in the wake of the Gaza terror group’s Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel.

Israel’s “Arrow” defense system intercepted a surface-to-surface ballistic missile fired at the Jewish state from Yemen on Friday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

On Sept. 15, Israeli air defenses intercepted fragments of a surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen that exploded over central Israel.

In July, a Houthi suicide drone killed an Israeli civilian in central Tel Aviv, in response to which Israel struck Hodeidah port in a major attack.