Israel Strikes Yemen After Houthi Attack
KEY FACTS
The IDF said in a statement Saturday afternoon its fighter jets struck Houthi “military targets” in the Al Hudaydah Port along the Red Sea in western Yemen, claiming the strike was a direct response “to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the State of Israel in recent months.”
The attack in Yemen struck oil refineries and electrical infrastructure, Israeli outlets Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported, citing a Houthi spokesperson and the Houthi-run news outlet Al-Masirah.
The strike in Yemen comes one day after the Houthis claimed responsibility for a fatal drone attack on Tel Aviv that left at least one person killed and nearly a dozen injured in Israel’s second largest city.
In a statement on X, a spokesperson 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 Oct. 7.
Israeli officials, meanwhile, have blamed the Houthis for a barrage of recent attacks, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claiming the Yemeni group “attacked us over 200 times,” warning: “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.”
TANGENT
While the attack marks a new stage for the IDF in Yemen, the Red Sea has been a hotbed of escalating conflict in recent months, some of which involving U.S. troops, sparking fears of major escalation in the area. Late last year, a string of drone strikes were carried out on U.S. air bases in Iraq and Syria and on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, while in the Red Sea—a crucial shipping route—the Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile strike on a Mediterranean Shipping Company freighter. Following those attacks, U.S. forces in late December shot down over a dozen attack drones and anti-ship missiles fired by Houthi rebels over the Red Sea, according to the Department of Defense. Later that month, U.S. troops sank three Houthi-operated ships in the Red Sea, killing 10 crew members on board the vessels in retaliation for the Houthi attack on the commercial freighter.
KEY BACKGROUND
U.S. troops in the Middle East have increasingly become targets of the Iran-backed group, years after the U.S. war in Iraq and various military operations in Syria. Roughly 900 U.S. troops remain in Syria with another 2,500 in Iraq as part of a deterrent mission against radical Islamic groups. Those troops, which have been the target of attacks by groups supported by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, have become increasingly vulnerable in the wake of Israel’s war against Iran-ally Hamas, even as U.S. officials attempt to separate their operations in Iraq and Syria from Israel’s war in Gaza (Hamas is an ally of Iran).
WHO ARE THE HOUTHIS?
The Houthis control the majority of Yemen and are part of a network of militant organizations in the Middle East and Northern Africa backed by Iran. Since February, the U.S. classified the Houthis—also known as Ansarallah—as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist Group,” a designation following a string of “unprecedented attacks against international maritime vessels” and military forces in the area. In recent months, the Yemen-based militant group has ramped up attacks it says are in response to Israel’s war in Gaza, targeting Red Sea ships linked to Israel and the U.S., and stoking fears those attacks could be the impetus for a regional war that could rope in the U.S., a key ally of Israel.
BIG NUMBER
Over 38,900. That’s how many people the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry said this week over 38,900 people have died in Gaza since the war began, the Palestinian National Authority-run WAFA news agency reported (that estimate does not distinguish between civilians and militants). Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, meanwhile, killed an estimated 1,200 people.
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