Israel attacks Houthi targets in Yemen after drone attack on Tel Aviv

A day after a drone launched by the group struck Tel Aviv, Israel launched airstrikes against the Houthi movement in Yemen.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his country wanted to send a message to the group.

“The fire currently burning in Hodeidah is visible throughout the Middle East and its significance is clear,” he said.

Houthi representative Mohammed Abdulsalam spoke of a “brutal Israeli aggression against Yemen”.

He said the attacks were aimed at pressuring the Houthis to stop supporting Palestinians in Gaza, which he said would not happen.

This is the first time that Israel has directly responded to what it says are hundreds of Yemeni drone and missile attacks on its territory in recent months.

The attacks hit the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah on the Red Sea on Saturday evening.

Images from Hodeidah showed huge fires. The Houthi-led government in Sana’a said Israel had attacked oil storage facilities near the coast and a nearby power plant. There were reportedly civilian casualties.

Mr Gallant said Israeli fighter jets attacked the group because they were harming Israelis.

“The Houthis have attacked us over 200 times. The first time they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck. And we will do so wherever it may be necessary,” he said.

On Friday, an apartment block in Tel Aviv was hit by a plane that an Israeli military official said was Iranian-made and modified for long-distance flights.

The Houthis – more than 1,600 kilometers away in Yemen – said they carried out the attack and announced that they would carry out further attacks.

The attack killed a 50-year-old man who had recently moved to Israel from Belarus and injured eight others.

The Israeli military official said his defense forces spotted the incoming drone but did not attempt to shoot it down due to “human error.”

Previously, almost all Houthi rockets and drones fired at Israel had been intercepted, and none had been proven to have reached Tel Aviv.

Although Israel has not yet attacked the Houthis in Yemen, the US and Britain have been conducting airstrikes against the group for months to prevent the Houthis from attacking commercial shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

The Houthis initially said they were attacking ships linked to or leaving Israel. However, many of the ships have no connection to Israel and since the airstrikes began, the group has also attacked ships linked to Britain and the United States.