Israel hits back after Huthi attack

AFP | Sanaa

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Yemen’s Huthi rebels claimed a missile attack yesterday against Israel, which said it intercepted the threat and struck back before warning the Iran-backed movement it would “pay a heavy price”. The Huthis have repeatedly launched missiles at Israel since the Gaza war broke out more than a year ago.

The rebels belong to the Iranbacked “axis of resistance,” along with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which has been weakened after a conflict with Israel and the loss of its Syrian supply line following former president Bashar al-Assad’s ouster.

Huthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the rebels fired hypersonic ballistic missiles at “two specific and sensitive military targets... in the occupied Yaffa area”, referring to the Jaffa region near Tel Aviv.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Huthis they would face serious repercussions.

“After Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime in Syria, the Huthis are almost the last remaining arm of Iran’s axis of evil,” he said.

“The Huthis are learning and will learn the hard way, that those who strike Israel will pay a very heavy price for it.”

Israel’s military had earlier announced the interception of a missile launched from Yemen “before it crossed into Israeli territory”.

The launch, as well as the interception, prompted sirens to sound across the parts of the country.

In the following hours, Israel launched a series of air strikes across Yemen’s western coast that Huthi media said struck power stations, oil facilities and a port in Hodeida, killing nine people and wounding others.

Iran denounced the raids as a “flagrant violation of the principles and norms of international law and the UN Charter”.

Palestinian armed group Hamas, also an ally of the Huthis, called Israel’s retaliatory strikes a “dangerous development”.

Israel’s military said it “conducted precise strikes on Huthi military targets in Yemen -- including ports and energy infrastructure in Sanaa, which the Huthis have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military actions.”

“I warn the leaders of the Huthi organisation: Israel’s long arm will reach you too,” said Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz.

‘Global threat’

Al-Masira, a media channel belonging to the Huthis, said a series of “aggressive raids” were launched in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and the port city of Hodeida.

It reported raids that “targeted two central power plants” in and around Yemen’s capital Sanaa, while in Hodeida it said “the enemy launched four aggressive raids targeting the port... and two raids targeting” an oil facility.

It said strikes on the Al-Saleef port had killed seven people, while two more were killed and others wounded in the strike on the oil facility.

Yesterday’s missile interception was the second this week, after a launch from Yemen was intercepted by Israel’s military on Monday.

That launch was also claimed by the Huthis, who said it was aimed at “a military target of the Israeli enemy in the occupied area of Yaffa”.

Also Monday, an Israeli navy missile boat intercepted a drone in the Mediterranean after it was launched from Yemen, the military said.

The Huthi rebels have said they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and pledged Monday to continue operations “until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted”.