ISRAEL HAS STRUCK ports and energy infrastructure used by the Houthi rebel group in Yemen overnight after intercepting a missile fired from the country, warning Houthi leaders it “will reach you too.”

The Houthis have said they responded with a missile attack against “two specific sensitive military targets” in the Tel Aviv area of Israel. 

“The operation has successfully achieved its objectives,” the Houthis said in a statement this morning. 

The Houthis vowed to continues attacks on Israel “until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted”. 

Houthi media said the Israeli strikes hit power stations, oil facilities and a port in Hodaidah, killing nine people and injuring others.

The strikes came after the interception of a missile fired by the Houthis towards Israel earlier this week.

Israel’s military said it “conducted precise strikes on Houthi military targets in Yemen — including ports and energy infrastructure in Sanaa, which the Houthis have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military actions.”

“I warn the leaders of the Huthi terrorist organization: Israel’s long arm will reach you too,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.

IDF: Earlier this morning, IAF fighter jets, with the direction of the Intelligence Directorate and the Israeli Navy, struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and in inland Yemen.

The Houthi terrorist regime has repeatedly attacked…

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) December 19, 2024

Al-Masira, a media channel belonging to the Houthis, said a series of “aggressive raids” were launched in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah.

It reported raids that “targeted two central power plants” in and around Yemen’s capital Sanaa, while in Hodeidah it said “the enemy launched four aggressive raids targeting the port… and two raids targeting” an oil facility.

It said strikes on the Al-Saleef port had killed seven people, while two more were killed and other injured in the strike on the oil facility.

Iran, a supporter of the Houthis, condemned the strikes as a “flagrant violation of the principles and norms of international law and the UN Charter”.

Hamas said in a statement called Israel’s strikes and “escalation” and a “dangerous development”. 

Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, called on the Houthis to launch more attacks on Israel.

“We commend the missile attack carried out by our loyal brothers, the Ansar Allah in Yemen, targeting the heart of the Zionist entity,” the group said in a separate statement.

“We praise their steadfast support for Gaza and call on them to escalate their attacks until the occupation submits and ends its genocidal war.”

On Monday, the Houthis claimed a missile launch they said was aimed at “a military target of the Israeli enemy in the occupied area of Yaffa” – a reference to Israel’s Tel Aviv area.

Also on Monday, an Israeli navy missile boat intercepted a drone in the Mediterranean after it was launched from Yemen, the military said.

The Houthi rebels have said they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians and on Monday pledged to continue operations “until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted”.

On 9 December, a drone claimed by Houthis exploded on the top floor of a residential building in the central Israel city of Yavne, causing no casualties.

In July, a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting retaliatory strikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

The Houthis have also regularly targeted shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, leading to retaliatory strikes on Houthi targets by United States and sometimes British forces.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the group had become a “global threat,” pointing to Iran’s support for the rebels.

“We will continue to act against anyone, anyone in the Middle East, that threatens the state of Israel,” he said.

Middle East expert at Cambridge University Elisabeth Kendall said that military force has so far failed to deter the Houthis, “who are already exploiting this morning’s strikes for propaganda purposes”.

“Israel’s strikes on Yemen have proven significantly more lethal & destructive than the ongoing US-UK strikes,” she said in a post on X.

“This round targeted ports and power stations & will certainly impact civilians. Presumably this is part of Israel’s message: nowhere is too far and nothing is off limits.”

With reporting from AFP