Tensions Rise Between Israel and the HouthisYemeni rebels have made an initial assessment of Israel’s raids on the port city of Hodeida yesterday.
According to the Houthi-linked agency, there were 3 dead and 87 wounded. During the night, however, the Israeli army intercepted a missile launched from Yemen and headed toward the Jewish state in the Red Sea. The missile, the IDF explained, did not reach Israel.
What happened yesterday
Israel has claimed responsibility for the attack on the port of Hodeida in Yemen, which caused a large fire. Israeli warplanes struck “a short while ago targets of the terrorist Houthi regime in the area of the port of Hodeida in Yemen,” the Israeli military spokesman said, explaining that the attack “is in response to hundreds of attacks conducted against Israel in recent months,” including the drone strike that hit Tel Aviv, killing one person.
Israeli Prime Minister Banyamin Netanyahu then issued his warning: “Anyone who wants to see a stable and secure Middle East should oppose the Iranian axis of evil and support Israel’s fight against Iran and its metastases: whether in Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon, everywhere” https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2024/07/21/guerra-in-medio-oriente-raid-di-israele-su-obiettivi-militari-houthi-nello-yemen-ci-sono-morti-e-feriti-cf819657-0d5b-4a8c-9dba-54cf67eac593/. “This operation – he added – hit targets 1,800 km from our borders. It makes clear to our enemies that there is no place where the long arm of the State of Israel cannot reach”.
Israel expects – the prime minister continued – that the international community will increase its efforts against Iran and its metastases, to curb Iranian aggression and to protect international freedom of navigation”. Netanyahu then explained that the port attacked by Israel “is not an innocent port. It was used for military purposes, it was used as an entry point for deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran. They used this weapon to attack Israel, to attack countries in the region, to attack an international sea route, one of the most important sea routes in the world”.
The spokesman said the strike hit the port, which was “used by the Houthis to receive weapons transferred from Iran” and this “will harm the Houthis’ revenues,” and went on to explain that the United States was informed before the strike, and that the attack, which struck at a distance of about 2,000 kilometers, was called ‘Long arm’. “This was a complex attack that required planning and preparation,” he added.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that “the fire currently burning in Hodeidah is visible throughout the Middle East and the meaning is clear” https://gazzettadelsud.it/articoli/mondo/2024/07/21/guerra-in-medio-oriente-raid-di-israele-su-obiettivi-militari-houthi-nello-yemen-ci-sono-morti-e-feriti-cf819657-0d5b-4a8c-9dba-54cf67eac593/. “The Houthis have attacked us more than 200 times. The first time they harmed an Israeli citizen, we – he stressed – struck them. And we will do so wherever it is requested”.
“We have dealt a heavy blow to Iran’s terrorist arm. We will strike anyone who harms us,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said. The Yemeni Houthi group’s Health Ministry blamed Israel for the strikes, after retracting its initial accusation against the United Kingdom and the United States, deleting any reference to them, adding that they had caused deaths and injuries, without providing a toll. A Shiite rebel official warned that Israel “will pay” for today’s attacks on Hodeida. “The Zionist entity will pay the price for targeting civilian facilities and we will respond to the escalation with an escalation,” said Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi politburo.