A new front has emerged in the Middle East as Israeli airstrikes targeted Yemen’s Hodeidah port following a deadly Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv. This escalation raises significant concerns about a broader regional conflict, especially given the ongoing war in Gaza.
The Houthi-run media reported that Israeli airstrikes on Saturday targeted oil storage facilities in the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, resulting in an unspecified number of fatalities and injuries. This attack came a day after the Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone strike on Tel Aviv, which killed one person and struck near a U.S. Embassy branch office.
BREAKING:
— sarah (@sahouraxo) July 20, 2024
All states have a responsibility under international law to stop genocide.
Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, upheld that responsibility.
Israel is now bombing Yemen for daring to interfere with its active genocide in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/t4vtHarmbg
Houthi political bureau member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti stated that Israel’s airstrikes would not deter the Houthi’s military operations in support of the Palestinian people. Al-Bukhaiti warned that their operations would instead increase until the war in Gaza ends. “The Zionist entity will pay the price for targeting civilian facilities, and we will meet escalation with escalation,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Military and political analyst Elijah Magnier told Al Jazeera that the Houthi attacks were likely to intensify following the Israeli airstrikes. “Is this going to change the course of action of a non-state actor that is motivated to support the people of Gaza? Certainly not,” Magnier said. “They’ve been given a perfect reason to increase the attacks. We have not seen the end of it – far from it.”
The Houthis’ spokesman, Mohammed Abdulsalam, described the Israeli airstrikes as “a brutal Israeli aggression against Yemen that aims to deepen people’s suffering and to pressure Yemen to stop supporting Gaza.” Abdulsalam emphasized that this aggression would only strengthen the Yemeni people’s resolve to support Gaza. “We affirm that this brutal aggression will only increase the determination of the Yemeni people and their valiant armed forces to be steadfast and to continue their support for Gaza,” he said.
This marks the first time Israel has struck inside Yemen, following a deadly drone attack launched by Houthi rebels on Tel Aviv. Since the October 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, the Houthis have been targeting shipping in the Red Sea in solidarity with Gaza. However, direct attacks between the Israeli military and the Iranian-backed Houthi group risk creating a new front in a conflict that already threatens regional stability.
Soon after the Israeli attack, the Houthis launched a fresh barrage of missiles towards Israel, promising a response that would be “huge and great.”
Who are the Houthis and what is their role in the Gaza conflict?
The Houthis, an Iran-backed Islamist group based in Yemen, are one side in the Yemeni civil war that has raged for nearly a decade. The movement, also known as Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), emerged in the 1990s as a religious revival movement for a centuries-old subsect of Shia Islam called Zaidism.
Since a ceasefire, the Houthis have consolidated their control over most of northern Yemen. They have also sought an agreement with Saudi Arabia, a major rival of Iran, to bring the war to a permanent end and cement their role as the country’s rulers.
The Houthis are believed to have been armed and trained by Iran. Since Hamas’s attacks on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent ground and air offenses in Gaza, the Houthis have been seeking revenge against Israel by targeting Red Sea shipping. The U.S. and U.K. have responded to those attacks by carrying out strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. However, Israel had not participated in these responses until now.
What happened in Tel Aviv?
A tipping point for Israel came on Friday when a drone attack launched by the Houthis on Tel Aviv killed one Israeli citizen and injured several others. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Sare’e claimed the operation was performed by a new drone capable of bypassing Israel’s interception systems. “We will continue to strike these targets in response to the enemy’s massacres and daily crimes against our brothers in the Gaza Strip,” Sare’e said.
The drone attack marked the first time Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial center, had been struck by a drone in an attack claimed by the Houthis. Israeli authorities are investigating the circumstances and potential security failures around the deadly drone blast. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military suspects the drone was an Iranian-made Samad-3 model, launched from Yemen, upgraded to extend its range.
How did Israel respond?
Israel’s response came a day later when Israeli aircraft hit the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. The attack killed at least six people and injured scores more, according to Yemeni officials. The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported that the strikes targeted oil facilities in the port on Yemen’s west coast. Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam said the strikes also hit civilian targets and a power station, calling the attack a “brutal Israeli aggression.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu justified the strikes, stating that the port was used by Iran to bring arms into Yemen. “The port we attacked is not an innocent port. It was used for military purposes, it was used as an entry point for deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran,” he said. Netanyahu emphasized that the operation showed Israel’s commitment to responding to threats, saying, “It makes it clear to our enemies that there is no place that the long arm of the State of Israel will not reach.”
How big an escalation is this?
Neither side has suggested they are ready to back down. Houthi army spokesperson Yehya Saree said the Houthis have “prepared for a long war” with Israel. Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, warned that the “blood of Israeli citizens has a price” and that further attacks would result in severe retaliation.
On Sunday, the Israeli military intercepted a missile approaching Israeli territory from Yemen, while the Houthis claimed to have launched “a number of ballistic missiles.” The conflict in Gaza has already heightened tensions between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been trading cross-border fire with Israel since October 8.
While the raised tensions with the Houthis create fresh challenges for Israel, Hezbollah remains the bigger threat due to its extensive arsenal and proximity to Israel. Yoel Guzansky, a senior fellow at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies, believes Israel has so far been restrained in its response, signaling to the U.S. and the international community that “enough is enough.”
“You have to signal to a rogue actor that is attacking you that there is a price to pay, and I think this is what Israel tried to do,” Guzansky told CNN.
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