Israel attacks Yemen – first direct retaliation for Houthi attacks

The Israeli military said in a statement on Saturday afternoon that its warplanes had attacked Houthi “military targets” in the port of Al Hudaydah on the Red Sea in western Yemen. The attack was a direct response “to the hundreds of attacks against the State of Israel in recent months.”

The attack in Yemen hit oil refineries and electrical infrastructure, Israeli media Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported, citing a Houthi spokesman and the Houthi-run news portal Al-Masirah.

The attack in Yemen came a day after the Houthis claimed responsibility for a deadly drone strike on Tel Aviv that killed at least one person and wounded nearly a dozen in Israel’s second-largest city.

In a statement on X, a spokesman for the Iran-backed Houthis said the attack on Tel Aviv was in retaliation for Israel’s ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip, a war that began on October 7.

This is a developing story and will be updated.