Israel launched strikes against ports and energy infrastructure in Houthi-held parts of Yemen early Thursday and threatened more attacks against the Iran-linked militant group, which has launched hundreds of missiles. launched in Israel over the past year.
While Israeli jets were in the air, the Israeli military said they intercepted a missile heading toward central Israel, which destroyed a school building in the town of Ramat Efal with what a military spokesman described as falling shrapnel.
The Israeli attack, which included 14 fighter jets and other aircraft, came in two waves, with the first series of strikes on the ports of Salif and Ras Issa and the second series hitting the capital Sanaa, a source said. talk of the army Lt.-Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
“We made extensive preparations for these operations with efforts to update our information and the best strikes,” he said.
Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthis, said the airstrikes killed nine people, seven in Salif and two in the Ras Issa oil facility, both in the western province of Hodeidah. .
In Sanaa, the strikes also targeted two main power stations south and north of the capital, which Al Masirah said cut electricity to thousands of families.
The Israeli strikes followed Monday's strike by US aircraft against a command and control facility run by the Houthis, who control much of Yemen.
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The Houthis – who have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November, in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel's war against Hamas – said they had targeted a town -the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on the same night with two ballistic missiles and that they hit “precision weapons targets.”
They also vowed to respond to Israeli attacks.
“Israel's attack will not deter Yemen from responding to this massive attack and supporting Gaza,” the group's military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a televised speech.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would continue to respond to Houthi attacks.
“Whoever raises a hand against the state of Israel, his hand will be cut off; whoever harms, will be harmed sevenfold,” Katz said in a post on X.
The Israeli military said that experts were examining the site of the strike in Ramat Efal and were trying to determine if one or two missiles had been fired.
Some Israeli media said the missile had hit the school, but Shoshani said initial indications suggested it was hit by missile debris.
One possibility was that the fuel tank “which is a big piece of metal, kept going” after the missile was intercepted, he said.
The Houthis have targeted around 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip began in October 2023 after Hamas led a surprise attack on Israel.
The Houthis have captured one ship and sunk two in an operation that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have been intercepted by separate US- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or have failed to reach their targets, which have also hit Western military vessels. included.
Once a rag-tag group in Yemen – one of the poorest countries in the world – Iran has helped the Houthis become major players capable of disrupting global shipping traffic in the Sea Red. CBC's Paul Hunter breaks down the rise of the Houthis and what the world needs to be watching. (Correct: In a previous version of this video, we reported that Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by several countries and organizations, including the United Nations. In fact, the UN does not consider Hamas a terrorist group.)
The rebels claim that they are targeting ships connected to Israel, the US or the United Kingdom to stop Israel's campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition to a stalemate over several years in a wider war in Yemen that has killed more than 150,000 people, including civilians. The conflict has also created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters which is believed to have killed tens of thousands more.
