DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A series of intense Israeli airstrikes shook Yemen's rebel-held capital and a port city early Thursday, shortly after a Houthi missile targeted central Israel.
The strikes further escalate Israel's campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have so far avoided the same level of intense military strikes that have targeted the Palestinian Hamas militant group and Lebanon's Hezbollah, members of Tehran's self-described "Axis of Resistance."
Meanwhile, Israel and Iran have exchanged direct fire while the government of Syria, an enemy of Israel since its founding in 1948, collapsed in the face of a rebel advance as the region's wars have upended Iran's network of allied proxy groups.
However, Thursday's strikes risk further escalating conflict with the Houthis, whose attacks on the Red Sea corridor have drastically impacted global shipping.
The Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah said that some of the strikes targeted power stations in the capital, as well as the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. It said the strike on the oil terminal killed and wounded people, but did not immediately elaborate.
An Israeli military statement offered no specifics on the targets hit.
“The targets struck by the (Israeli military) were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes,” the statement said. “The strikes degrade the Houthi terrorist regime, preventing it from exploiting the targets for military and terrorist purposes, including the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the region.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said the strikes hit energy and port infrastructure, which he alleged the rebels “have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military action.”
“Israel will not hesitate to act in order to defend itself and its citizens from the Houthi attacks,” Hagari said.
Rebel-held Hodeida, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Sanaa, has been key for food shipments into Yemen as its decadelong war has gone on. There's also longstanding suspicion that weapons from Iran have been transferred through the port.
The strikes happened just after the Israeli military said its air force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it entered the country’s territory.
“Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling debris from the interception,” the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded near Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas, and a large explosion was heard overhead at the time. The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile attack, but said an important military statement would be issued in the coming hours, following a pattern of how they claim their assaults.
Israel previously struck Hodeida and its oil infrastructure in July after a Houthi drone attack killed one person and wounded 10 in Tel Aviv.
American forces have also launched a series of strikes on the Houthis over nearly a year due to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea corridor. On Monday, the U.S. military's Central Command said it hit “a key command-and-control facility" operated by the Houthis in Sanaa, later identified as the al-Ardi complex once home to the government's Defense Ministry. But Israel appears to have carried out Thursday's strikes alone.
The Houthis have targeted some 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip started in October 2023 after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Israel's grinding offensive in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, local health officials say.
The Houthis have seized one vessel and sunk two in a campaign that has also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by separate U.S.- and European-led coalitions in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have also included Western military vessels.
The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to 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 battled a Saudi-led coalition into a stalemate in a wider Yemen war that’s killed more than 150,000 people, including civilians. The conflict also has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters that's believed to killed tens of thousands more.