Last updated on August 7th, 2024 at 04:27 pm
Israeli air forces have claimed responsibility for strikes on targets in Yemen on the evening of Saturday, July 20.
The Israeli military shared one video, showing a view from an ordnance striking an unspecified target.
התיעודים החדשים ממבצע “יד ארוכה” – התקיפה בתימן, תדלוק אווירי וקולות הקשר: https://t.co/UPlHVP4guu pic.twitter.com/6mV2ZKxkez
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) July 21, 2024
Israeli fighter jets carried out the sorties, which appear to have hit multiple targets around the port city of Al Hudaydah, located on Yemen’s Red Sea-facing west coast.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sare’e decried the strikes in a Sunday press statement, stating they hit a port facility, a fuel depot, and a power station that supplied electricity to the city.
Footage shared to social media by Sunday morning showed the port facility engulfed in flames.
Fuel depot at Al-Hudaydah Port in Yemen following an alleged Israeli airstrike, footage posted to social media shows. pic.twitter.com/6M1dpitLLp
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) July 20, 2024
The strike came after the Houthis claimed credit for an attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv using an explosive-laden drone. That drone strike killed one person and injured several others.
“The port we attacked is not an innocent port,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Saturday news conference. “It was used for military purposes, it was used as an entry point for deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran.”
The Houthis are a primarily Shia Muslim faction and have fought with Yemen’s predominantly Sunni Muslim government for years. A U.S.-backed Saudi Arabian-led coalition of Arab states intervened against the Houthis, but the rebel faction has persisted and now maintains control over a sizeable portion of the country, including the capital city of Sana’a.
The Yemeni civil war has largely died down in recent months with efforts to establish and maintain a lasting ceasefire in the country, but the Houthis turned their attention outward in October, to the ongoing fight between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have claimed solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and have launched drone and missile attacks from Yemen to disrupt Israel.
Most of the Houthi attacks have targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea and its adjoining waterways. The Houthis have claimed to target ships connected to Israel or its allies and partners. But some attacks have also targeted Israeli cities, such as Eilat.
The drone strike comes as Israeli forces continue to battle in the Gaza Strip, and as they face an escalating conflict to their northern border, with Hezbollah.
“All those who seek a more secure and stable Middle East should fully support Israel’s actions against this terror axis – in Yemen, in Gaza, in Lebanon and elsewhere,” Netanyahu said on Saturday.
“And to Israel’s enemies, I have a simple message: Do not doubt Israel’s determination to defend itself on every front. All those who seek to harm us will pay a very heavy price for their aggression.”
From the beginning of the war, I made it clear that Israel will act against all attackers, which is why we struck Houthi targets in Yemen yesterday in response to the deadly drone attack near the US Consulate in Tel Aviv.
The targeted port is used for smuggling weapons from Iran… pic.twitter.com/7mO6s5dVGB
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) July 21, 2024
Sare’e vowed a Houthi response to the Israeli sorties and “strike the vital targets of the Israeli enemy.”
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