Israeli warplanes struck the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeidah yesterday, a day after a drone attack by the Iran-backed rebels killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, both sides said.
The strikes, which triggered a raging fire and plumes of black smoke, are the first claimed by Israel in the Arabian peninsula’s poorest country, some 1,800km away.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said more operations against the Houthis would follow “if they dare to attack us”.
Gallant said the Hodeidah strikes were also a warning to other Iran-backed armed groups around the Middle East that have claimed attacks on Israel during the Gaza war.
The Israeli military said “fighter jets struck military targets in the area of Hodeidah port in Yemen in response to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the state of Israel in recent months”.
In a statement on social media, top Houthi official Mohamed Abdulsalam reported a “brutal Israel aggression against Yemen”.
The attack targeted “fuel storage facilities and a power plant” in Hodeidah “to pressure Yemen to stop supporting” Palestinians in the Gaza war, he said.
The Houthi-run health ministry said there were deaths and injuries in the Hodeidah strikes, but it did not give a toll.
Footage aired by Al Masirah showed a massive blaze on the seafront, with a large plume of black smoke rising into the sky.
The channel also broadcast images of casualties being treated in hospital, many of them bandaged and lying on stretchers in packed rooms.
A man interviewed by the broadcaster said many of the wounded were port employees.
