Israeli jets attacked Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the attack, the military said
Al-Mukalla: Israeli warplanes attacked the Houthi-controlled western Yemeni city of Hodeidah on Saturday, apparently in retaliation for a Houthi drone strike on Tel Aviv earlier this week.
Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that Israeli planes struck a power plant and a gasoline storage facility, killing and injuring several people.
Photos circulated on social media showed a large ball of fire and thick fog from the target.
Mohammed Abdul Sallam, the Muscat-based Houthi chief negotiator, said the airstrikes targeting “civilian” facilities “forced Gaza to stop supporting them,” vowing that Israel would continue attacks on ships and Israel until the war in the enclave ends.
“We stress that this brutal attack will only strengthen the determination and determination of the Yemeni people and their brave armed forces in their support for Gaza,” he said in a post on X.
Other Houthi officials vowed revenge. “We will respond more violently and harshly to this Zionist-American orgy,” said Abdul Sallam Zahaf, a member of the Houthi Shura Council.
On Friday, the Houthis launched a drone loaded with explosives into a Tel Aviv residential area, killing one person and injuring at least 10 others.
Critics of the militias argue that the Houthis will use the bombings to legitimize their rule and crush dissidents in areas under their control.
“An Israeli airstrike is exactly what the #Houthis have long sought to legitimize their consolidation of power. This event provides an excuse for increased repression of the population and violence in #Yemen and beyond. The Houthis excel at provoking conflict to maintain their authority,” Washington, Nadwa al-Dawsari, a non-resident fellow at the Middle East Institute in DC, said at X.
