Israel attacks Yemen after Houthis claim drone attack in Tel Aviv

In a brief statement on Saturday, the Israeli military said its fighter jets had attacked “military targets of the terrorist Houthi regime” in the port city of Al-Hodeida. The attacks were carried out in response to “hundreds of attacks” on Israel in recent months. The attacks on Hodeida were approved at a rare emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday afternoon, according to Israeli media reports.

The US and Britain have been conducting airstrikes in Yemen for months to end Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. Saturday’s Israeli attack heralded a further escalation of the war in Gaza and gave an explosive new dynamic to the brewing regional conflict.

The Houthis have framed their attacks, many of them on merchant ships in the Red Sea, as aimed at ending Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Mohammed Abdulsalam, a spokesman for the Houthis, wrote on X that Saturday’s attacks “will not deter the Yemeni people or their brave armed forces, but will only strengthen their resolve and steadfastness in supporting Gaza.”

The Israeli attacks targeted “civilian facilities, oil depots and the electricity plant” in Hodeidah, an impoverished city that is a lifeline for imports to northern Yemen and a major source of income for the Houthis, a militant group from northern Yemen that seized control of large parts of the country during a civil war that began a decade ago.

Footage from the aftermath of Saturday’s attacks showed black smoke rising from huge fires at the port and residents of Hodeida were faced with orange light. Al-Masirah quoted the Health Ministry as saying the attacks had left an unspecified number of dead and injured and that numerous people had suffered “severe burns” as a result of the attacks. The broadcaster showed footage from a hospital where injured people lay on stretchers in a hallway.