Houthis vow major response to Israeli strike that killed 6

Yemen’s Houthi rebels yesterday promised a “huge” retaliation against Israel following a deadly strike on the port of Hodeidah, as regional fallout widens from months of war in Gaza.
The Israeli strike, the first claimed by Israel in Yemen, came a day after the first fatal attack by the Houthis in Israel.
Israel said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen and struck targets in southern Lebanon. Residents of southern Gaza reported combat in the Rafah area.
The fighting across the region comes as Washington, Israel’s chief military supplier, says a deal to end more than nine months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas is near the “goal line”.
But Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry warned Israel’s attack on Hodeidah “aggravates the current tension in the region and halts the ongoing efforts to end the war in Gaza.”
Abdul Malik al-Houthi, chief of the Iran-backed group, said the strikes on Hodeidah would lead to “further escalation and more attacks targeting Israel.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said earlier that the rebels’ “response to the Israeli aggression against our country is inevitably coming and will be huge.”
In Hodeidah, six people were killed and 83 wounded, health officials said in an updated statement carried by Houthi media.
Firefighters struggled to contain the massive blaze caused by the strike. A port employee said fuel storage tanks and a power plant were still burning yesterday.
Analysts say the strike on Hodeidah will likely only embolden the Houthis. Since January the rebels have already withstood repeated United States and British strikes aimed at deterring repeated Houthi attacks on shipping.
Nearly a decade of war against forces backing Yemen’s internationally-recognised government has also failed to weaken the rebels’ hold. Page 7