Israel Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen Following Attacks on Tel Aviv, American Warships
Israeli says it also killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike on Lebanon.
On Sunday, Israeli forces launched multiple air strikes on assets controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group in Yemen just days after the Houthis targeted Israeli civilians with missile attacks and American warships in the region.
Israelâs targets included a port at the Yemeni city of Hodeidah on the countryâs west coast. The missile attacks targeted a port that is used for the transportation of arms and oil. The port is also home to a power plant.
A separate Israeli strike targeted oil reserves at the port of Ras Isa in the northwestern part of Yemen, just south of the border with Saudi Arabia.
According to the Jerusalem Post, a spokesman for the Houthis, Mohammad Abdul Salam confirmed the missile attacks and condemned both Israel and America.
âThe American-backed Zionist aggression is condemned, denounced and rejected and cannot affect the will of the Yemeni people. What the Yemeni people confirm in their million weekly demonstrations is that they will not abandon Gaza and Lebanon,â Mr. Salam said.
The strikes follow the assassination of Hezbollahâs leader in Lebanon, Hassan Nasrallah, which left Arab leaders and American officials concerned that the IsraelâHamas war would soon explode into a wider regional conflict. The Houthis, just days earlier, had launched other attacks on the Jewish state and American assets supporting the Israeli mission.
On Friday, the Houthis announced they had launched attacks on the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Ashkelon, as well as missile and drone attacks on American warships. âWe will carry out more military operations against the Israeli enemy in victory for the blood of our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon,â a Houthi spokesman, Yahya Saree, said in a televised speech, according to Al Jazeera.
The Houthis said they had launched 23 missiles and a drone at three American warships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea in retaliation for American support for Israel in its ongoing war with Hamas and Hezbollah. The terrorist group has been engaging in sporadic attacks on American forces in the region since the start of the IsraelâHamas war last year.
Earlier Sunday, the Israeli military that it killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese militant group was reeling from a string of devastating blows and the killing of its leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollahâs Central Council, was killed on Saturday. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, and it was not known where the strike took place.
If confirmed, he would be the seventh senior Hezbollah leader slain in Israeli strikes in a little over a week, including founding members who had evaded death or detention for decades.