The Israeli Air Force, on early morning Thursday, conducted waves of retaliatory strikes on terrorist targets across Yemen after Houthis fired another ballistic missile at Israel within a span of days.
On Wednesday night, the Yemen-based Islamic terrorist group fired a ballistic missile towards central Israel. Israeli air defense systems “intercepted one missile that was launched from Yemen, before crossing into Israeli territory,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Wednesday night. “Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling debris from the interception.” On Monday, the Iran-backed jihadist group had fired a similar missile which was also intercepted by the IDF over central Israel.
The fragments of the Houthi missile landed on a school near Tel Aviv. “Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and other cities in central Israel on Wednesday night, after the Houthis launched a ballistic missile towards the area,” the Israeli broadcaster Arutz Sheva reported Thursday morning. “Residents of the area reported hearing explosions, and interceptor fragments fell in a school in the Ramat Gan neighborhood of Ramat Ef’al, causing severe damage to both the building and vehicles.”
Israeli fighter jets struck Houthi targets, including military facilities, ports and oil infrastructure — key source of funding the jihadist outfit’s terrorist activities.
“The Israeli Air Force airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen overnight were carried out in two waves,” The Times of Israel reported Thursday. “Fourteen IAF fighter jets, along with refuelers and spy planes, were involved in the strikes, which had been planned by the military for several weeks in response to the Iran-backed group’s attacks on Israel.”
One of the objectives of the Israeli aerial operation was to knock out the Red Sea ports controlled by the terrorist group, a move that would disrupt the weapons supplies coming from Iran. According to the news outlet “the strikes in Yemen were aimed at paralyzing all three ports used by the Iran-backed Houthis on the coast of the country.”
“The IDF conducted precise strikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen – including ports and energy infrastructure in Sana’a, which the Houthis have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military action. Israel will not hesitate to act in order to defend itself and its citizens from the Houthi attacks,” IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, disclosed in a video address.
“The targets struck by the IDF were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes,” the IDF confirmed in a statement Wednesday morning. “The strikes degrade the Houthi terrorist regime, preventing it from exploiting the targets for military and terrorist purposes, including the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the region.”
“IAF fighter jets, with the direction of the Intelligence Directorate and the Israeli Navy, struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and in inland Yemen,” the military added.
Thursday’s Israeli strikes come days after a similar measure by the U.S. armed forces in the wake of repeated attacks by the Houthis on American maritime and military assets in the region. “On Monday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said that it hit “a key command-and-control facility” operated by the Houthis in Sanaa,” The Associated Press reported.
The Israeli strikes, which according to the CNN caused “massive explosions,” were reportedly planned months in advance as a retaliation to the Houthi aggression. Since October 7, 2023, the Houthis have fired hundreds of missiles and drones towards at Israel.
“The complex operation, which required weeks of planning, involved mid-air refueling capabilities due to the extraordinary distance,” the Israel Hayom newspaper noted. “The mission was the first time the IDF also struck the capital Sana’a, as the two previous public strikes on the Iranian-backed terrorists were limited to the norther strategic stronghold of Hodeida.”
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