The Israeli Air Force struck the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida in western Yemen on Saturday, military and local media reported, following a drone attack launched by the Iran-backed group that struck Tel Aviv, killing an Israeli man.
Three people were killed and 87 wounded in the strikes, according to Al-Masirah TV, the main news outlet run by the Houthi organization.
In a statement, the Israeli military said: “Fighter jets struck military targets of the Houthi terror regime in the area of the Hodeida Port in Yemen, in response to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the State of Israel in recent months.”
This marks the first time the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have conducted strikes in Yemen. The operation was named “Operation Outstretched Arm.”
According to the Israeli military, the port in the Houthi-controlled city has been used repeatedly to bring in weapons from Iran, making it a legitimate military target.
The airstrike targeted fuel depots, energy-related sites, and other facilities at the port. Images and video showed massive flames and smoke rising from the port. Israel acted alone in the strike with no American military involvement. An Israeli military official stated that the United States had been updated ahead of the attack.
At least a dozen Israeli Air Force aircraft, including F-35 stealth fighter jets, F-15 fighters, reconnaissance aircraft, and refueling planes, were involved in the attack. The target was approximately 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) from Israel.
Footage taken by beachgoers in the southern city of Eilat showed the Israeli aircraft heading toward Yemen on Saturday afternoon. “This is a complex attack, one of the farthest and longest carried out by the Israeli Air Force. It required careful planning and preparation for various potential threats in the area,” said IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari during a press conference.
Israel had threatened a response to the deadly drone attack on Tel Aviv early Friday, which killed 50-year-old Yevgeny Ferder. The Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis was not intercepted by air defenses due to a “human error,” the military said.
On Saturday morning, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant held a meeting with senior military officials, during which the strike on the port of Hodeida was approved. Later in the day, Israel’s security cabinet convened to also approve the attack. The meeting lasted several hours, and the ministers were still gathered when the strike was carried out around 6 p.m.
According to the IDF, Yemen’s Houthis have fired over 220 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel in the past nine months, mostly targeting the southernmost city of Eilat, in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, where Israel is battling Hamas terrorists. The vast majority of the Iran-backed group’s projectiles have been intercepted by US forces stationed in the Red Sea, Israeli air defenses, or fighter jets, or missed their targets. Before the attack on Tel Aviv on Friday, only one Houthi projectile, a cruise missile, had successfully struck Israel, hitting an open area near Eilat in March.
Until Saturday, Israel had not responded to the Houthi attacks, preferring that a US-led coalition continue to strike the Houthis in response to the group’s attacks on commercial and military ships in the Red Sea. The US-led coalition had not targeted the port, as it was also used to bring humanitarian aid into the war-torn country.
However, Hagari stated that Israel had no intention of harming the Yemeni people. “We are operating against the Houthi terror,” he said.
He also called for international support, saying, “Israel expects the countries of the world to stand on one front; this is a common international interest.”
The Houthi-run health ministry reported casualties from the strike.
An official from the Iran-backed group said the attack would be met with “escalation.”
“The Zionist entity will pay the price for targeting civilian facilities, and we will meet escalation with escalation,” Houthi politburo member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said on social media.
The Israeli military stated that there were no changes to instructions for Israeli civilians, although they were anticipating a response by the Houthis.
Gallant, following the attack, said it was a message to Israel’s enemies in the Middle East.
“The fire that is currently burning in Hodeida is seen across the Middle East, and the significance is clear,” Gallant said in a video statement. “The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required.”
“The blood of Israeli citizens has a price. This has been made clear in Lebanon, in Gaza, in Yemen, and in other places — if they dare to attack us, the result will be identical,” he warned.
The Iran-backed Houthis, who seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 and control large swaths of the country, are “part of the axis of resistance” against Israel along with Hamas, which is also sponsored by Tehran.
Houthi rebels have expressed support for the Palestinians and threatened Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war. The Iranian-backed group’s slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse the Jews, Victory to Islam.”
In the Red Sea, the Houthis have fired on commercial and military ships dozens of times since November.
The Houthis say they are targeting ships due to Israel’s offensive in Gaza against Hamas. However, they have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for global trade between Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
Other Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria have also claimed to have launched dozens of drones and cruise missiles at Israel during the ongoing war sparked by Hamas’s devastating October 7 attack, while Lebanon’s Hezbollah has attacked communities and IDF positions in northern Israel on a near-daily basis.
Iran itself also carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel in April with hundreds of drones and missiles, which were intercepted.
