ReutersIsrael said its fighter jets carried out a series of strikes against military targets in Yemen belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi movement in response to missile and drone attacks.
An Israeli military spokesman said the targets included Red Sea ports and energy infrastructure in the capital Sanaa.
Houthi-run Al Masira TV reported that nine people were killed at Salif port and Ras Issa oil terminal, which are located in Hudeidah province.
The strikes came hours after a missile fired from Yemen was partially intercepted over central Israel. Part of the rocket still hit a school in Ramat Gan on the edge of Tel Aviv, destroying a building.
The Houthis, who control northwestern Yemen, began attacking Israel and international shipping shortly after the Gaza war began in October 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.
The Israeli military says about 400 rockets and drones have been fired at the country from Yemen, most of which have been intercepted.
EPAIn the early hours of Thursday, Israelis in and around Tel Aviv were sent scurrying to bomb shelters as an incoming missile was shot down by air defenses.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported that a missile was fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory and that it was partially intercepted.
Shrapnel fell in central Israel, including the rocket's warhead, which directly hit a school in the Ramat Efal neighborhood of Ramat Gan, it added. No injuries were reported.
Two hours after the attack, the IDF announced that its fighter jets had struck Houthi military targets along Yemen's west coast and in the country's interior.
According to Houthi-run Al Masirah, seven people were killed in an Israeli strike on the Red Sea port of Salif, while two people were killed and one wounded at the nearby Ras Isa oil terminal. Two others were reported wounded in the port of Hudeidah, just to the south.
The TV channel also said power plants in Haiz and Dahban, south and north of Sana'a, were hit.
General Electricity Corporation director Meshal al-Rifi was quoted as saying that the local power supply had been affected by damage to power substations and fuel tanks.
“The Houthis are carrying out attacks against Israel in violation of international law and the Houthi regime is a threat to peace and security in the region,” said IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.
“Today, the IDF conducted precision strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen – including ports and energy infrastructure in Sana'a, which the Houthis use in ways that effectively contribute to their military operations.”
An Israeli military official said the operation was “planned” and that the 14 jets and other aircraft involved “were already in the air” when the Houthis fired their missile, according to the Financial Times.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “After Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are almost the last arm of the Iranian axis of evil. They are finding out, and will find out the hard way, that anyone who harms Israel will pay a very high price.”
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Houthi leaders that “Israel's long arm will reach you too.”
EPAHouthi military spokesman Yahya Saria said the group fired two “hypersonic” ballistic missiles at two “sensitive military targets” in the Tel Aviv area at the same time as the Israeli strikes and that the operation “successfully achieved its objectives.”
“Israeli aggression will not prevent Yemen and Yemenis from fulfilling their religious and moral duty in response to the massacres in the Gaza Strip, and to respond to this brutal aggression by continuing to support and strike all hostile targets with appropriate weapons,” he said. added.
It was Israel's third direct attack on the Houthis in five months.
In July, the Israeli military struck Hudeidah's port and oil infrastructure after a Houthi drone strike killed one person in Tel Aviv. It bombed Hodeidah again in September after a Houthi missile targeted Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport.
The US and UK have also struck Houthi weapons and other military targets over the past year in response to attacks on global shipping in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
On Monday, US Central Command said it had attacked a “key command and control facility” in Sana'a that was a center for coordinating attacks.
The Houthis have attacked dozens of merchant ships with missiles, drones and small boats since November 2023. They sank two ships, captured a third and killed four crew members.
They say they are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They claim – often falsely – that they target vessels bound only to Israel, the US or the UK.