The Israeli military said it had carried out strikes against Houthi military targets in the port city Al Hudaydah in western Yemen on Saturday, just a day after a drone launched by the Houthis killed an Israeli citizen in Tel Aviv and injured several others.
The Israeli military confirmed the attack, saying in a statement that it came "in response to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the State of Israel in recent months." Friday's drone attack in Tel Aviv was one of the rare instances where a drone has reached Israeli airspace. The Iran-backed group has been firing missiles and drones toward Israel since the war in Gaza began last October, yet Israeli and US forces have shot down the vast majority of these.
Unnamed senior American officials told The New York Times that Israel acted on its own, and that the United States did not participate in the attack. Haaretz reported that the Israeli attack against the Houthis was approved at a special security cabinet meeting which convened earlier in the day.
Saudi news outlet Al Hadath reported on Saturday that at least three people were killed and 15 injured in the Israeli attack, and that complexes belonging to economic institutions and the military police were targeted.
In a post on X, Houthi spokesman Nasruddin Amer vowed that the group would continue its attacks. "Yemen's position with Gaza is firm and will not change, and the Yemeni operations supporting Gaza will not stop," he wrote.
According to the Israeli military, the Houthis have launched more than 200 drones and cruise missiles at Israel since the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas, but only one drone and one cruise missile made contact with Israeli soil.
