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After attack on the port in Yemen, the Houthis attack the Israeli city of Eilat | World news

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The Israeli military said its air defenses intercepted a missile from Yemen before it reached Israeli territory, after Israeli fighter jets carried out deadly attacks on Houthi military targets near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Saturday.

From Samuel Osborne, news reporter @samuelosborne93


Sunday, July 21, 2024, 10:12 a.m., United Kingdom

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they had attacked the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat with several ballistic missiles.

Israel’s The military said its air defenses intercepted a missile from Yemen before it entered Yemeni territory.

It comes after an attack by Israeli fighter jets on Houthi military targets near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. Medical sources told Reuters that at least six people were killed and 80 others injured.

This was apparently the first Israeli attack on Yemeni soil since the War between Israel and Hamas began in October.



Picture:
Oil tanks are burning in the port city of Hodeidah. Image: AP



Picture:
A map of the Yemeni city of Hodeidah

The Israeli army said several military targets were hit in the western port city of Hodeidah. The attack was a response to “hundreds of attacks” on Israel in recent months.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said: “The Houthis have attacked us over 200 times. The first time they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck. And we will do so wherever it may be necessary.”

On Friday, an Iranian-made long-range drone took off from Yemen killed a man and injured at least ten others near the US embassy in central Tel Aviv.

The attack on Yemen will heighten fears that the Gaza war, sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, could become a regional conflict.

Read more:
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The “new Axis powers” ​​– how worried should we be?

Fears: Regional conflict may not be long in coming

Alex Rossi - Middle East correspondent

Alex Rossi

International Correspondent

@alexrossiSKY

The Israeli attacks were inevitable and early Saturday evening military fighter jets bombed the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah.

The Israeli military had vowed to respond to hundreds of Houthi attacks on Israel, and the attacks on the port, which Israel said was both a dual-use civilian and military target, were the retaliatory measure.

The loss of an Israeli life meant that nothing less than a military response was expected, and the attack on Yemen – Israel’s first ever – was also about sending a signal and restoring deterrence.

But whether that will work is questionable.

All this means that the war is moving into dangerous new territory and there is the possibility of further escalation.

There are fears that a regional conflict may not be far away.

Netanyahu demands: “Stand up to the axis of evil in Iran”

The latest development comes amid an escalation in daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to travel to Washington to address the US Congress.

Netanyahu called on the international community to increase pressure on Iran and its proxies – Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah.

“Those who want a stable and secure Middle East must oppose the axis of evil in Iran and support Israel’s fight against Iran and its proxies,” Netanyahu said.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani condemned the Israeli attacks and “warned of the risk of escalation of tensions and spread of war in the region as a result of the dangerous adventurism of the Zionists,” state media reported.

In a statement, Hezbollah also condemned the attack on Hodeidah, calling it “a foolish step … that marks a new and dangerous phase in the vitally important ongoing confrontation.”

At least 13 people were killed in three Israeli air strikes on the Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza on Saturday, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

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