Israel shoots down a missile fired from Yemen hours after a deadly Israeli strike on Houthi rebels

JERUSALEM — The Israeli navy mentioned it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen early Sunday, hours after Israeli warplanes struck a number of Houthi targets within the Arabian Peninsula nation.

The Israeli airstrikes — in response to a lethal Houthi drone strike on Tel Aviv — had been the primary time Israel is understood to have responded to repeated Houthi assaults all through its nine-month conflict in opposition to Hamas. The burst of violence between the distant enemies has threatened to open a brand new entrance as Israel battles a sequence of Iranian proxies throughout the area.

The Israeli military late Saturday confirmed the airstrikes within the western Yemeni port metropolis of Hodeidah, a Houthi stronghold and essential entry level for assist and different provides. It mentioned the strikes, carried out by dozens of plane, together with U.S.-made F-15 and F-35 warplanes, had been a response to tons of of Houthi assaults.

The Well being Ministry in Yemen mentioned the Israeli strikes killed six folks and wounded 83 others, many with extreme burns from a serious hearth. One other three folks had been lacking, the ministry mentioned in a press release shared by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam posted on X that the “blatant Israeli aggression” focused gas storage services and the province’s energy station.

”The Israeli enemy picked these targets particularly as a part of their focusing on of the Yemeni economic system,” mentioned Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, chief of the rebels.

The Israeli navy mentioned that the surface-to-surface missile fired Sunday was intercepted earlier than reaching Israeli territory.

Israel, together with the U.S., the U.Ok. and different Western allies with forces within the area, have intercepted virtually all the Houthi missiles and drones. However early Friday, a Houthi drone penetrated Israel’s air defenses and crashed into Tel Aviv, Israel’s industrial and cultural capital, killing one particular person.

An Israeli air drive official mentioned Sunday that human error by accident labeled the drone as a non-threat as Israel was concurrently monitoring different drones launched from Yemen and approaching Israel from the east.

The Israeli navy mentioned Saturday’s strike on Hodeidah, about 1,700 kilometers (greater than 1,000 miles) from Israel, was among the many most complex and longest-distance operations by its air drive. It mentioned it hit the port as a result of the realm is used to ship Iranian arms to Yemen.

Israel’s protection minister, Yoav Gallant, vowed to hold out comparable strikes “in anywhere the place it might be required.”

The Houthis are amongst a number of Iranian-backed teams to have attacked Israel in solidarity with Hamas for the reason that Oct. 7 assault by the Palestinian militant group triggered the continued Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Along with combating Hamas, the Israeli navy has been engaged in each day clashes with the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. These clashes have raised considerations that the combating may spill over right into a full-blown conflict with Lebanon and past.

Yemen has been engulfed in civil conflict since 2014, when the Houthis seized a lot of the north and compelled the internationally acknowledged authorities to flee from Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in assist of presidency forces, and in time the battle become a proxy conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The conflict has killed greater than 150,000 folks, together with fighters and civilians, and created one of many world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

The Houthis mentioned Israel’s assaults will solely make Yemen’s folks and armed forces extra decided to assist Gaza. “There will probably be impactful strikes,” Mohamed Ali al-Houthi of the Supreme Political Council in Yemen wrote on X.

“All of this received’t cease the Yemeni folks or the Yemeni management, navy and missile forces in focusing on the Israeli entities,” mentioned Moatasem Abdel Salah, a Sanaa resident.

Since January, U.S. and U.Ok. forces have been placing targets in Yemen, in response to the Houthis’ assaults on industrial transport that the rebels have described as retaliation for Israel’s actions within the conflict in Gaza. Nonetheless, most of the ships focused weren’t linked to Israel.

On Sunday, officers mentioned that the Houthis repeatedly focused a Liberia-flagged container vessel transiting the Crimson Sea, the most recent assault by the group on the essential maritime commerce route.

The captain of the ship reported assaults from three small Houthi vessels, an uncrewed Houthi aerial automobile and missile hearth off the coast of Mocha, Yemen, leading to “minor harm” to the ship, the British navy’s United Kingdom Maritime Commerce Operations heart mentioned. The Joint Maritime Data Middle, a coalition overseen by the U.S. Navy, recognized the ship because the Pumba and reported “all crew on board protected.”

Early Sunday, the Houthis claimed duty for the assault on the Pumba.

Analysts and Western intelligence companies have lengthy accused Iran of arming the Houthis, a declare Tehran denies. The joint drive airstrikes up to now have performed little to discourage them.

The Houthis have long-range ballistic missiles, smaller cruise missiles and “suicide drones,” all able to reaching southern Israel, based on weapons consultants. The Houthis are open about their arsenal, frequently parading new missiles by way of the streets of Sanaa.

___

Michael Wakin reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Melanie Lidman contributed to this report from Jerusalem.