The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday that it had struck the “Houthi terrorist regime” in Yemen for the first time, launching a long-distance airstrike on the Al Hudaydah Port, targeting the origin of a drone that hit Israel Friday.
The attack came in response to a Houthi drone that reached Tel Aviv on Friday, killing one Israeli civilian and wounding eight others after slipping past Israeli air defenses due to what the IDF called “human error.”
Reports in Yemen emerged before Israel confirmed the attack. There were reports of casualties near the port.
In a statement, the IDF said:
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who monitored the attack together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Israeli Air Force (IAF) headquarters, said that the attack had reached its target 2,000 kilometers away from Israel, and that the “fires that are burning now in Hudaydah” are being seen in “the entire Middle East,” a warning to enemies of Israel.
Iran is roughly the same distance away from Israel as Yemen.
Update: According to a press briefing by IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Saturday evening, the attack was carried out by fighter jets, not remotely, with pilots flying 1,700 kilometers and returning home safely.
Hagari said that Israel did not want a war with Yemen as a whole: “Yemen is a big country. Only a part of it is run by the Houthis.” He emphasized that the target was the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist regime, not the people of Yemen.
The name of the operation, he said, was “Operation Long Arm,” chosen to send a signal to Iran and other enemies.
Though Israel carried out the operation alone, Hagari said, it was the common international interest to stop the Houthi threat. He added that Israel was appealing to the nations of the world to stand together against the Houthis.
Hagari also posted video of the IAF conducting the attack.
The attack was carried out solely by Israeli forces, Hagari said, though the U.S. and other allies were reportedly informed afterwards.
Israel’s Army Radio said that Israel had destroyed both military targets and utilities that are used by the Houthis, such as fuel and electricity installations. The Times of Israel added that one of the goals of the attack was to disable the port through which Iran brings in weapons.
Israel’s security cabinet held an unusual emergency meeting on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, during the attack.
The Iran-backed Houthis have attacked Israel, without provocation, since the Hamas terror attacks of October 7. The two countries do not share a common border and have no reason for war other than Iran’s desire to destroy Israel.
There were over 200 Houthi attacks on Israel before Friday, and Israel did not respond to any of them, under pressure from the U.S.
The Houthis have also choked international shipping through the Red Sea by attacking vessels that pass through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. The Biden administration’s Operation Prosperity Guardian has focused on defensive actions that have, thus far, failed to deter the Houthis or the Iranians.
Israel’s Army Radio pointed out that Israel’s attack would be particularly noteworthy because it had succeeded in hitting core Houthi infrastructure where others — including neighboring Saudi Arabia — had failed thus far.
President Biden removed the Houthis from a list of terrorist organizations upon reaching office — reversing an action taken by President Donald Trump — and waited years before putting them on a terrorist list again, despite their attacks on Saudi Arabia and Israel.
FJB!
