Israeli military attacked power plants, a port and an oil facility in Hodeidah and Sanaa in response to Houthi missile.
A series of intense Israeli air strikes shook Yemen’s capital and a port city, killing at least nine people, according to reports by Houthi-controlled media.
Israel’s military said it had attacked “military targets” belonging to Houthi fighters “in the western coastal strip and deep inside Yemen” on Thursday morning, after intercepting a missile fired by the group towards Israel.
“The targets attacked are used by the Houthi forces for their military operations,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by Yemen’s Houthi movement controlling much of the country, said seven people were killed in an Israeli strike on the port of Salif and the rest in two strikes on the Ras Issa oil facility; both are located in the western province of Hodeidah.
“The enemy launched four aggressive raids targeting the port… and two raids targeting” an oil facility, Al Masirah reported.
The series of “aggressive raids” also targeted two central power stations south and north of the capital, Sanaa, it was added.
Yemen’s SABA news agency also reported that four raids targeted Hodeidah, with two targeting the Ras Isa oil facility, killing and injuring some of its employees.
Israel’s military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces had carried out strikes on Houthi military sites, including ports and energy infrastructure in Sanaa, following the firing of a Houthi missile towards Israel overnight – which was destroyed – and repeated attacks over the past 14 months.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Sanaa, Hussain al-Bukhaiti, a pro-Houthi political commentator, said Israel conducted about 13 strikes in Yemen on Thursday.
“Those attacks came as retaliation from Israel against Yemen because Yemen has been conducting on a weekly basis attacks either on Israel directly or on the Res Sea on any ship that is actually aiding the Zionist state of Israel,” he said.
Houthi fighters in Yemen have carried out months of attacks on Israel, and shipping linked to Israel in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in what it says is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 45,000 people – the majority being women and children.
“[The Houthi attacks] might not have had an effect in Gaza, on forcing Israel to stop its attacks and blockade against Gaza, but of course we know that Yemeni attacks against Israel as well as the blockade in the Red Sea have resulted in the closure of the Eilat port, south of occupied Palestine, and as well as increased costs in Israel because now ships linked to Israel cannot use the Red Sea and have to go around Africa,” al-Bukhaiti said.
“This is actually causing some damage against the Zionist state’s economy. “Yemen has said clearly that it will not stop these attacks unless the Israeli regime will stop its attacks against Gaza, lift the blockade and withdraw from Gaza,” he added, saying that even attacks on civilians in Yemen would not stop the Houthis’ support for Palestinians.
