CAIRO – The Israeli military said Saturday that its fighter jets struck Houthi military targets in the Hodeidah port area of Yemen, in response to hundreds of attacks carried out against Israel in recent months.
Al-Masirah TV, the main television news channel run by Yemen’s Houthi movement, reported that the attacks were aimed at oil installations in the port and caused deaths.
Residents of Hodeidah told Reuters by telephone that explosions were heard across the city during intense shelling.
On Friday, an Iranian-made long-range drone struck central Tel Aviv in an attack claimed by the Houthi militia that killed one man and injured others, the Israeli military and emergency services said.
“IDF fighter jets struck military targets of the terrorist Houthi regime in the port area (Hodeidah) in Yemen in response to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the state of Israel in recent months,” the Israeli military said.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have stepped up attacks on Israel and Western targets, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
They began attacking Western ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after Israel invaded the Gaza Strip following last year’s attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel.
“A brutal Israeli aggression targeted civilian buildings, oil installations and power plants in Hodeidah, with the aim of pressuring Yemen to stop supporting Gaza… but the attack will only increase our resolve, steadfastness and continuity,” said Mohammed Abdulsalam, chief negotiator for the Houthi movement. , said in a statement on X.
Hamas invaded Israeli cities on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli records. Since then, almost 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip, according to the enclave’s health authorities.
(Reporting by Enas Alashray, Mohammed Ghobari, Hatem Maher and Ari Rabinovitch, editing by Timothy Heritage and Giles Elgood)
This article originally appeared in USA TODAY: Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen in response to attacks
