Netanyahu Says Houthis Paying ‘Heavy Price’ After Israel Strikes Yemen

Israeli warplanes bombed a power station and two ports in Houthi-controlled Yemen on Friday in retaliation for the Iran-backed terrorist group’s drone and missile strikes against Israel, and pro-Houthi media said at least one person had been killed and nine wounded.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that the Houthi rebels in Yemen were “paying and will continue to pay a heavy price for their aggression against us.”

“Today, we attacked terrorist targets of the Houthi terrorist regime along the western coastal strip and deep in Yemen. The Houthis are a proxy of Iran, and they serve the terrorist objectives of the Iranian axis in the Middle East,” Netanyahu added. “They constitute a danger to Israel and the entire region, including global freedom of navigation.”

The strikes hit the Red Sea port of Ras Issa and the major port of Hodeidah and the Hezyaz central power station in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, and Harf Sufyan District in Amran province also came under air attack, said Al Masirah TV, the main news outlet run by the Houthis.

An employee at the Ras Issa port was killed and six others were injured, while three people, including a worker, were wounded in the strikes on Hezyaz, the outlet said.

The Israeli military said more than 20 aircraft took part in the attack, dropping around 50 bombs and missiles in an operation which required airborne refueling during the 2,000-km (1,240-mile) flight.

Earlier, British security firm Ambrey said airstrikes on the Ras Issa port targeted oil storage facilities in the vicinity of shipping berths, though no merchant vessels were reported to have been damaged.

The supply of petroleum derivatives is stable, the Houthi government spokesperson Hashem Sharaf Eddine said after the attack.

An Israeli military statement confirmed the targets, saying the power station served as a “central source of energy for the Houthi terrorist regime in its military activities.” It added that the targets struck were examples of the “Houthis’ exploitation of civilian infrastructure.”

“The Houthi terrorist regime has repeatedly attacked the State of Israel, its citizens and civilian infrastructure in Israel,” including using drones and surface-to-surface missiles, the IDF said. “The State of Israel has the right and obligation to defend itself.”

The Israeli military added that Houthi “attacks on international shipping vessels and routes continue to destabilize the region and the wider world.”

“While the Houthi terrorist regime operates as an independent terrorist organization, it relies on Iranian cooperation and funding to attack the State of Israel and its citizens,” it continued. “The IDF will continue to operate at any distance against any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens.”

Within the past 48 hours, the Houthis have fired three drones at Israel‘s commercial hub Tel Aviv and more drones and missiles at the US aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said.

The Houthis have targeted Israel, hundreds of kilometers to the north as well as international shipping in waters near Yemen since November 2023 in support of Palestinian terrorists at war with Israel in Gaza.

Israel has responded with airstrikes in Houthi-held areas of Yemen, as have British and US forces in the region.

Netanyahu said last month Israel was only at the beginning of its campaign against the Houthis.

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