As 14 Israeli Air Force fighter jets accompanied by refuelers were on their way to Yemen, some 1,250 miles south of the Jewish state, to strike Houthi terrorist and economic infrastructure early on Thursday, a Houthi surface-to-surface ballistic missile was also in the air, heading toward Israel.
The missile was intercepted by Israeli air defenses, but part of its warhead fell in central Israel, heavily damaging a Ramat Gan school—a stark reminder that this Iranian proxy remains committed to killing and terrorizing Israelis.
In its response, Israel expanded on its previous targeting of Houthi economic-terrorist infrastructure, hitting weapons smuggling facilities, and oil and other energy infrastructure. By doing so, Israel also sent a warning to the Houthis’ sponsors in Iran, located roughly as far from Israel as Yemen is, whose economy is heavily dependent on oil ports.
“This is the latest of the Houthis’ long range, indiscriminate attacks against Israeli civilians. But it is not a new phenomenon. Over the last 14 months, they have launched hundreds of missiles and UAVs toward the State of Israel,” Israel Defense Forces international spokesperson, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told journalists later on Thursday.
The distance and the decentralized nature of the Houthi terror regime in Yemen means that the IAF must prepare for such strikes long in advance, from both an intelligence and an operational perspective, he stressed.
Continuing on from the IAF’s strike on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah in July, following a deadly Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv, Thursday’s strikes hit critical Houthi-controlled infrastructure, including three ports on the Yemeni coastline—Hodeidah, As-Salif, and a smaller one called Ras Isa. Two military targets in Sanaa were also hit.
These targets were chosen for their operational importance to Houthi weapons smuggling networks, used to import Iranian arms, and their role in funding the terrorists’ military capabilities.
“What we attacked was infrastructure used by the Houthis to export resources for their terror and military activity,” said Shoshani.
The IAF’s first wave of strikes occurred around 3 a.m., targeting military assets in the ports, and the second wave hit the targets in Sanaa.
The Houthis have not only attacked Israel, they have also wreaked havoc on Red Sea shipping and global commerce, damaging the economies of Egypt, Jordan and the world for more than a year now.
The U.S leads a taskforce to deal with the Houthis, which is under the command of CENTCOM, but it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that Washington has been severely pulling its punches when it comes to dealing with the Yemeni Islamists.
While the IDF’s strikes are certain to cause pain to the Iranian proxies in Yemen, it remains unclear whether this goes far enough, and targeting Houthi leaders or missile bases appears to be more difficult.
Nevertheless, Tehran cannot ignore Israel’s willingness to systematically paralyze distant energy, port and economic hubs due to their role in sustaining military-terrorist capabilities.