The attacks came a day after a Huthi drone strike penetrated Israel’s air defenses.
Hodeida, Yemen:
Israeli warplanes attacked the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeida on Saturday, a day after a drone strike by Houthi rebels killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, both sides said.
The attacks, which sparked a raging fire and clouds of black smoke, are the first claimed by Israel in the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, some 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) away, analysts said.
“The blood of Israeli citizens has a price,” said Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after the Hodeida attacks, adding that more operations against the Iranian-backed Houthis would follow “if they dare to attack us.”
“The fire currently burning in Hodeida is seen across the Middle East and the meaning is clear.”
Just hours after Friday’s attack in Tel Aviv, Gallant vowed that Israel would retaliate against the Houthis, who control parts of Yemen, including much of the Red Sea coast.
The Israeli military said its warplanes struck “military targets of the terrorist Houthi regime” on Saturday, a day after a drone strike claimed by Yemeni rebels killed a civilian in Tel Aviv.
“Israeli fighter jets struck military targets of the terrorist Houthi regime in the Hodeida port area of Yemen in response to hundreds of attacks carried out against the State of Israel in recent months,” a military statement said.
The Houthis have previously claimed attacks on Israeli cities including Ashdod, Haifa and Eilat, but Friday’s attack on Tel Aviv appears to have been the first to breach Israel’s vaunted air defenses.
‘Brutal aggression’
In a statement on social media, senior Houthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam reported Israel’s “brutal aggression against Yemen.”
The attack targeted “fuel storage facilities and a power station” in Hodeida “to pressure Yemen to stop supporting” the Palestinians in the Gaza war, he said.
The Houthi-controlled Ministry of Health said there were deaths and injuries in the Hodeida attacks, but did not give the number of casualties.
In a statement released by Houthi-run Al Masirah television, it said several people had suffered “severe burns.”
Images broadcast by Al Masirah, which AFP could not independently verify, showed a huge fire on the seafront, with a large cloud of black smoke billowing into the sky.
An AFP correspondent in Hodeida reported hearing several large explosions and seeing smoke over the port.
Fuel pumps have closed across the port city, a key lifeline for imports and international aid for millions of Yemenis in need after more than a decade of war.
Hodeida has been hit hard by a series of attacks carried out by Britain and the United States since January in response to attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis have attacked at least 88 commercial ships since November in a campaign they say targets shipping linked to Israel in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war.
UN chief António Guterres called for “maximum containment” following the drone attack in Tel Aviv to avoid “further escalation in the region”.
But Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi Politburo, quickly threatened revenge for Hodeida’s attacks.
“The Zionist entity will pay the price for targeting civilian installations and we will face escalation with escalation,” he said in a social media post.
The port of Hodeida, a critical entry point for imports and international aid to Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, has remained largely untouched during the decade-long war between the rebels and the internationally recognized government backed by neighboring Saudi Arabia.
“Traders now fear that this will exacerbate the already critical humanitarian and food security situation in northern Yemen, as most trade flows through this port,” said Mohammed Albasha, senior Middle East analyst at Navanti Group, with headquartered in the USA.
He said Israeli strikes “would likely be perceived by many Yemenis as an attack on their homeland, which could bolster Houthi recruitment and financing.”
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