On early Thursday, a series of intense Israeli airstrikes shook Yemen’s rebel-held capital and a port city, shortly following a Houthi missile targeted central Israel. The strikes further escalate Israel’s campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthis, who so far have avoided the same level of intense military strikes that have targeted the Palestinian Hamas militant group and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
However, it risks further escalating conflict with the Houthis, whose attacks on the Red Sea corridor have drastically impacted global shipping. Houthi-controlled media reported the strikes, but offered no immediate information on casualties nor damage. The Houthi-controlled satellite channel al-Masirah said that some of the strikes targeted power stations in the capital, as well as the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea. An Israeli military statement offered no details on the targets hit.
The statement said, “The targets struck by the (Israeli military) were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes”. “The strikes degrade the Houthi terrorist regime, preventing it from exploiting the targets for military and terrorist purposes, including the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the region.”Rebel-held Hodeida, some 145 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Sanaa, has been key for food shipments into Yemen as its decade long war has gone on. There’s also longstanding suspicion that weapons from Iran have been transferred through the port.
The strikes happened just following the Israeli military said its air force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it entered the country’s territory. “Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling debris from the interception,” the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded near Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas, and a large explosion was heard overhead at the time. The Houthis did not immediately claim the missile attack, but said an important military statement would be issued in the coming hours, following a pattern of how they claim their assaults.
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