Houthi targets in Yemen struck by IDF in response to Fridays attacks

Israeli army reportedly hit a number of “military targets” in the west city of Al Hudaydah, a Houthi area. Officials have reported three deaths with 87 injured.

File photo
File photo

On Saturday the Israeli army reportedly struck several Houthi targets in western Yemen following a drone attack by the rebellious group in Tel Aviv the previous day.

The strikes are the first to hit Yemen from the IDF since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

“A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the area of the Al Hudaydah Port in Yemen in response to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the State of Israel in recent months,” the IDF said in a post on ‘X’.

On Friday, a long-range Iranian-made drone launched from Yemen killed one man and wounded at least 10 others near the US Embassy in central Tel Aviv. The Houthis claimed responsibility.

Israel’s airstrikes killed three and injured at least 87 people, said Dr. Anees Alasbahi, spokesperson for the Houthis’ Ministry of Health in Sanaa. Most of the injured sustained severe burns, he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes were a “direct response” to Friday’s attack on Israel.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said the attacks will only make the people of Yemen and its armed forces more determined to support Gaza. Mohamed Ali al-Houthi of the Supreme Political Council in Yemen wrote on X that “there will be impactful strikes.”

In a statement, Hamas condemned the airstrikes that they called a “massacre and a dangerous escalation.” The strike on Yemen could further raise fears that the Gaza war could potentially spiral into a regional conflict.

On Saturday, The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said in a landmark opinion that Israel should stop settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jersalem. It also called for an end to the “illegal” occupation of all Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip.