CAIRO – The Israeli military said on Saturday that its fighter jets struck Houthi military targets in the area of Hodeidah port in Yemen in response to hundreds of attacks carried out against Israel in recent months.
Al-Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen’s Houthi movement, reported that the strikes were directed against oil facilities in the port and caused fatalities.
Hodeidah residents told Reuters by phone that explosions were heard throughout the city during an intensive bombardment.
On Friday, a long-range Iranian-made drone hit the centre of Tel Aviv in an attack claimed by the Houthi militia and which killed one man and wounded others, the Israeli military and emergency services said.
“IDF fighter jets struck military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the area of the (Hodeidah) port in Yemen in response to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the state of Israel in recent months,” Israel’s military said.
The Iranian-backed Houthis have stepped up attacks against Israel and Western targets, saying they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
They began attacking Western ships in the Red Sea and the 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 facilities and power station in Hodeidah aiming at pressuring Yemen to stop supporting Gaza… but the attack will only increase our determination, steadfastness, continuity,” Mohammed Abdulsalam, the chief negotiator for Houthi movement, said in a statement on X.
Hamas stormed Israeli towns on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, nearly 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, according to health authorities in the enclave.
(Reporting by Enas Alashray, Mohammed Ghobari, Hatem Maher and Ari Rabinovitch, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Giles Elgood)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen in response to attacks
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