The Israel Defense Force is striking in far-away Yemen, targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s last-standing proxy, the Houthis, as never before. Will America, which has bases nearby, also escalate?

A ballistic missile launched from Yemen Thursday morning was partially intercepted by the IDF’s Arrow missile-defense system. Although most of the missile components were destroyed, its warhead exploded over Ramat Gan, destroying a school building hours before students were to return to classes. 

Israeli planes then flew nearly 1,200 miles to Yemen, hitting more targets than ever before, including three ports and, for the first time, the Houthi capital of Sanaa. Among the sites that were hit in addition to military installations were two power plants that paralyzed the delivery of electricity, water, and other necessities to the impoverished city. Hours later, the IDF intercepted a drone near the shores of Tel Aviv that the Houthis launched in retaliation. 

Continuous attacks on civilians are the reason Israel hit strategic targets in Yemen, Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a video message: “After Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis are almost the last remaining wing of the Iranian axis of evil. They will learn the hard way that those who harm Israel will pay a very heavy price.”

The Houthis have blocked international shipping lanes in the Red Sea, via which nearly 20 percent of world commerce travels, Mr. Netanyahu noted: “They are not only attacking us. They are attacking the entire world. So when Israel acts against the Houthis, it acts on behalf of the entire international community. The U.S. and others understand this.” 

For more than a year, America, Britain, and others have carefully hit Yemeni targets, believing that such strikes can convince the Houthis to end their Red Sea blockade even as they seek to avoid a region-wide escalatory war.

“Some of what we’re seeing now suggests that they may be looking to move in a different direction,” Secretary Blinken said Wednesday when asked about the Houthis during a farewell speech at the Council on Foreign Relations. “I don’t think they want to be in a direct conflict with us, and if they keep doing what they’re doing, they’re going to have a problem.”

The Houthi answer, in the form of an escalatory attack on Israel, came hours after Mr. Blinken ended his remarks. Whatever America and its allies, including the Israelis, have been doing to date seems to have failed to stop the Iranian-backed group’s disruptive assault on Israel and world shipping. 

“The Israeli attack will not deter Yemen from responding to this heinous aggression and supporting Gaza,” the Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said Thursday, speaking on the group’s television station. “Tonight we hit sensitive targets at the occupied city of Jaffa,” he boasted. 

“Israeli operations in July and September failed to hit the Houthis hard enough to lower their motivation,” an Iran and Shia researcher at Israel’s Misgav Institute, Yossi Mansharof, tells the Sun. “Israel is realizing only now the importance of the Yemeni theater. It must cooperate with the incoming Trump administration to hit hard on the Houthis’ economy and its military assets.”

The IDF’s Thursday operation included 14 fighter jets that struck targets in the Yemeni ports of Hodeida, Salif, and Ras Issa. In a second wave, strategic infrastructure was hit at Sanaa. Flights to Yemen from Israel involve multiple refueling maneuvers and several evasion tactics to ensure that all pilots, including some females, return home safely. 

America can strike Yemen from bases in nearby Saudi Arabia. Its largest airbase in the region, at Al Udaid, Qatar, is also much closer than Israel. Additionally, the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group has arrived at the Red Sea in an attempt to “ensure regional stability and security,” according to a Central Command press release Monday. 

If the Houthi Red Sea siege continues, elevated shipping costs could cause an up to 2 percent rise in global inflation, according to estimates. As Israel can hardly solve the issue by itself, it might need American help in striking the Houthis. Some Israelis, though, say that action in Yemen alone might not be enough. 

“This is a unique moment,” Channel 12’s military analyst, Nir Dvori, says. As Tehran’s other proxies and Syria have been degraded, and as Iranian air defenses have been decimated, “Israel must conduct decisive attacks in Iran,” he says. “If Iran is hit, the Houthis will suffer the consequences too.”