Israeli air strikes hit Yemen for the first time

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Newsweek on Saturday that warplanes had attacked Houthi “military targets” in the area of ​​the port of Al Hudaydah in western Yemen.

The Israeli military said the strikes were “a response to the hundreds of attacks” the Iran-backed group has carried out against Israel in recent months. This was the first confirmed report of an Israeli attack in Yemen, more than 1,000 miles away.

Nasruddin Amer, a spokesman for the Houthis, posted on X, formerly Twitter, a video of the Yemeni port ablaze after the “Israeli aggression,” as the English translation of the caption reads. “Yemen’s position on Gaza is firm and will not change, and Yemeni operations in support of Gaza will not stop. The response to this aggression is inevitable, and the Yemeni people are stronger than all the forces of evil,” he affirmed.

According to the Associated Press, Houthi spokesman Mohammad Abdulsalam also wrote on social media that the aim of the attacks was to “increase the suffering of the population and pressure Yemen to stop its support for Gaza.”

An Israeli Defense Forces spokesman also said: Newsweek that there are “no changes in the defense policies of the Home Front Command.”

The attack came a day after the militia group claimed responsibility for a drone strike on Israel’s largest city, Tel Aviv, that killed one person and wounded at least 10, according to the Associated Press.

The Houthi attack represented a rare breakthrough of Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system and was the group’s first deadly attack inside Israel. It struck near the U.S. embassy in the city.

The group is part of this “axis of resistance. They want to isolate Israel and exert as much pressure as possible,” said Alex Vatanka, director of the Middle East Institute’s Iran program. Newsweek in a telephone interview. He noted that “Iran is not the only actor involved in this, but there is no doubt that Iran plays a central role as a provider of diplomatic support and a supporter of the Houthis.”

On Friday, thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of the capital Sanaa to celebrate the attack on Israel and show their solidarity with the Palestinians, many waving Palestinian flags.

“Yemen as a country has always been pro-Palestinian,” Vatanka said.

In response to the attack, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said yesterday: “We are waging a war on several fronts: Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the militias in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Houthis in Yemen, all Iranian proxies and Iran itself.”

The Houthis have repeatedly attacked dozens of merchant ships in the Red Sea in protest against ongoing Israeli offensives in the Gaza Strip since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 hostages.

Following the Hamas attack, Israel launched numerous ground and air invasions of the Gaza Strip, killing 34,000 Palestinians and displacing more than 2 million Palestinians, according to AP.

On Saturday, the Israeli attack reportedly hit oil and diesel storage facilities in the port city of Hodeidah, another spelling of the Arabic name, according to AP and Yemeni state media. A large fire reportedly broke out; videos of high flames and billowing black smoke circulated on X.

Vatanka told Newsweek that the port controlled by the Houthi “has always been a very strategically important port”.

Farea Al-Muslimi, a Yemeni writer and research fellow at the Chatham House Middle East and North Africa Program, said: Newsweek in a WhatsApp message on Saturday: “The Israeli response to the destruction of the port of Hodeidah will have no significant impact on the Houthis’ ballistic weapons or drone capabilities. In fact, it will only exacerbate the already severe humanitarian crisis in Yemen.”

The United Nations reports that 80 percent of the Yemeni population is in need of humanitarian assistance and protection. “Since 2015, more than 14 million people have been in acute need and more than three million have been displaced from their homes.”

Al-Muslimi said the port was “one of the most important ports for supplying humanitarian aid and food to around 70 percent of the Yemeni population. Hodeidah is already one of the poorest provinces in Yemen.”

He added: “These airstrikes will provoke further reactions from the Houthis.”

“For the Houthis, this is another rare opportunity to consolidate their control over Yemen, to continue to crack down on their opponents under the pretext of fighting Israel” and to expand the group’s base.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted a video in Hebrew on X on Saturday afternoon reacting to the Israeli attack and subsequent shelling. The English translation of his speech reads: “The fire now burning in Yemen can be seen throughout the Middle East, and it is clear that an attack on Israel comes at a high price. The price paid in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and other places is now being paid in Yemen. We are ready to take the necessary measures against any threat.”

Vatanka said that “the message of this fire that is now coming from Hodeidah after the Israeli attacks” is intended to make the Houthis change their calculations in their attacks on Israel.

This is a developing story and will be updated with additional information.

Updated 7/20/24 at 3:30 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with the IDF statement, Al-Muslimi’s commentary, and a new photo.

Updated 7/20/24 at 2:05 PM ET: This article has been updated with Vatanka’s comment and an updated headline.

Updated 7/20/24 at 1:42 PM ET: This article has been updated with additional information.