Israel Targets Houthi Rebels In Yemen After Killing Dozens Of Hezbollah Commanders In Lebanon

Days after killing more than 20 Hezbollah members, including their chief Hassan Nasrallah, the Israeli military announced on Sunday that it struck several Houthi rebel targets in Yemen using fighter jets.

The Israel Air Force deployed dozens of aircraft to strike military Houthi targets 1,800 km away from the country in the Ras Isa and Hudaydah regions of Yemen. The Israeli military said these strikes were carried out in response to recent Houthi attacks against Israel.

“In a large-scale air operation today, dozens of Air Force aircraft, including fighter jets, refuelling planes, and reconnaissance aircraft, attacked military-use targets of the Huthi terrorist regime in the Ras Issa and Hodeida areas of Yemen,” military spokesman Captain David Avraham said in a statement.

The targets also included power plants and a seaport used for oil imports, which the Houthis used to transfer Iranian weapons and military supplies to the region, the Israeli military said. It said that the Israeli intelligence unit selected targets based on locations where Iran has supplied weapons to the Houthis, often mixing civilian areas with military sites to justify attacks on Israel.

The IDF noted that the Houthis have been targeting Israel throughout the year, not just in the past month, The Jerusalem Post reported. Over the last year, the Houthis launched numerous ballistic missiles and drones at Eilat. In July, a Houthi drone killed a civilian in Tel Aviv. On Saturday, a missile attack prompted sirens across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv. Although shrapnel was found on Route 375 near Tzur Hadassah, no injuries were reported.

‘More than 20 other terrorists’

Earlier on Sunday, Israel’s military said “more than 20 other terrorists of varying ranks” were present when Friday’s air strike killed Nasrallah. Israeli air strikes have decimated Hezbollah’s senior command structure, with Nasrallah’s right-hand man Fuad Shukr, head of the elite Radwan Force Ibrahim Aqil and others among the dead.

A Hezbollah statement on Sunday confirmed that the group’s top commander in south Lebanon, Ali Karake, had also been killed on Friday. The past week’s waves of strikes targeting Hezbollah have intensified fears in Lebanon and the wider region of more violence to come.

Hezbollah launched low-intensity cross-border strikes on Israeli troops after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel last October 7, sparking war with Israel in the Gaza Strip. Almost a year later, Israel announced a shift in its focus to battling Hezbollah on its northern front.