TEL AVIV – Amidst negotiations to establish a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and as the agreement with Hezbollah in Lebanon is very much on hold, Jerusalem has the opportunity to deploy more military resources to bring down the leadership of Yemen's Houthis in size, according. to the authorities of the time of Israel.
“Israel must speed up and expand the attacks (on Yemen), not only on the country's infrastructure but also on the political leadership,” Maj. Gen. Retired Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli Military Intelligence and president of MIND Israel, told Fox News Digital. .
“Targeted killings are an option if there is good intelligence to enable such an operation. The leaders of the Houthis should meet with Sinwar and Nasrallah and the sooner the better,” he added.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shared the screen with Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthis. (Getty Images)
The Israeli Defense Forces have been killed Hezbollah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah Beirut, Lebanon, on Sept. 28, when Israeli ground troops killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Oct. 17, and Hamas Ismail Haniyeh in Iran last summer.
Houthi terrorist leaders:
The Houthis are led by Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi (Abu Jibril), whom the US State Department has designated as a Special Global Terrorist in 2021.
According to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), other high-ranking officials include Abdul Khaliq Badruddin Al-Houthi (Abu Yunis), commander of the Republican Guard (Presidential Reserve), whom the US also enlisted in 2021; Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi (Abu Ahmad), member of the High Political Council; and Abdul Karim Amiruddin Husayn Al-Houthi, interior minister and head of Ansar Allah's administrative office.
An undated photo of Houthi terrorist leader Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi. FDD's Long War Journal says he has been designated by the State Department as a Special Terrorist of the World in 2021. (FDD's Long War Journal)
Joe Truzman, a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital that the intelligence-based killing process takes time and that, so far, the Israelis have been preoccupied with Gaza and Lebanon.
“But it can be done. We have seen Israel focus on nuclear scientists and military personnel in Iran. This can be repeated in Yemen. If the Houthis continue these attacks, the main focus of Israel will turn to see,” Truzman said.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Israel and a senior figure at the Washington-based think tank JINSA, explained to Fox News Digital the complexity of such tests.
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A hand-held photo obtained from Yemen's Huthi Ansarullah Media Center shows a large column of fire after an IDF attack on the Yemeni port city of Hodeida on July 20, 2024. (Ansarullah Media Center/AFP via (Getty Images)
“You have to make sure the target is in the area you're bombing. If he has three houses, how do you know where he is? You need real-time intel,” said Amidror, who noted that it was easy. for Israel to hit Nasrallah since his location is well known.
“It took 15-20 minutes to hit (Hezbollah headquarters) in Beirut because it is very close to Israel,” he said. “Yemen is a huge resource operation, it needs refueling jets, not to mention tactical issues. It requires a completely different kind of intelligence.
“Both Nasrallah and Sinwar were known enemies and we gathered information about them for many years, but the Houthis were not a priority,” continued Amidror. “The first way is to start strengthening the intelligence pool by building bridges with those who can provide it.”
Wednesday night, the The IAF achieved the goals about 1,200 kilometers from Yemen, after a Houthi missile struck a primary school in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv.
An IDF profile picture showing Hezbollah terrorist chief Hassan Nasrallah, who the IDF confirmed was killed in a strike in September. (IDF Spokesperson's Office)
The pre-dawn strikes were carried out in two waves, targeting the Ras Isa oil terminal in the Red Sea, the ports of Hodeidah and Salif, as well as the D'Habban and Haziz power stations in Sana'a, according to reports.
In July, a Houthi airstrike killed a resident of Tel Aviv, prompting the IAF to attack Yemen's Hodeidah Gulf. Israeli aircraft also carried out several strikes in the Hodeidah area in September.
In total, the Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. 2023, kills 1,200 people. Since then, the Houthis have also attacked more than sixty commercial ships – mainly in the Bab-el-Mandeb, which is the southern sea route to Egypt's Suez Canal.
“The distance to Yemen is the longest the IAF has ever flown, but they can increase that by adding fuel,” Brig. Gen. (res.) Relik Shafir, a former IAF pilot who participated in Operation Opera, the attack on Iraq's Osirak nuclear facility on June 7, 1981, told Fox News Digital.
“It is not comfortable for a pilot to stay in an F-15, F-16 or F-35 for seven hours. You have to be fully attentive and at your highest level of concentration,” he continued . “Israel can hit enough for any enemy there and the air force uses guided missiles that fire with an accuracy of two or three feet.”
Deceased Hamas terrorist chief Yahya Sinwar pictured in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 13, 2024. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
On Monday, Israel's Defense Minister, Israel Katz, issued a warning to the Houthis, “We will strike their operational methods and depose their leaders. Just like we did (former Hamas leader Ismail) Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah. – we will do it in Hodeidah and Sanaa.
Jerusalem had previously denied responsibility for the July 31 killing of Haniyeh, who visited the Iranian capital for the inauguration of the country's president.
On Friday, the spokesman for the Department of Defense of the United States Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that Israelis “definitely have a right to defend themselves.”
Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and his bodyguards were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on August 1, 2024 in Tehran. (Cem Tekkesinoglu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The Houthis “are a danger to everyone in the Middle East,” former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy told Fox News Digital.. “Finally, many countries in the region will be interested and willing to cooperate in efforts to end these attacks, which have no justification. “
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Israeli Air Force planes leave Yemen to attack Yemen. (IDF)
Halevy insisted that “terrorist activity of any kind is a challenge that must be met with an appropriate response. The Houthis have losses and if they continue to provoke us, we will have to more.”
In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition launched a military operation against the Houthis at the request of former Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who was ousted from Sana'a last September. The civil war in Yemen is still stable, the internationally recognized government, led by the Presidential Leadership Council since 2022, based in Aden, in the south of the country, since January 2015.
A source close to the government told Israel's Khan public center on Saturday that Jerusalem should begin killing Houthi leaders, while the Saudi Al-Arabiya agency reported that senior Houthi officials fled Sana'a due to fear that they will be attacked.
“We need to get a deeper understanding of what would hinder the Houthis' ability to operate,” former Israeli national security adviser Eyal Hulata told Fox News Digital. “For this, we need more intelligence, more analysis and cooperation between different parties.”
Houthi fighters carry heavy machine guns mounted on vehicles at a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)
The big question, Hulata posed, is whether the Houthis will continue to pose a threat if Israel and Hamas agree to a ceasefire.
“If it becomes a major enemy, Israel will need to deal with this by deploying the resources it hoped to avoid – and perhaps still hopes to avoid,” he said.
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On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israelis to have “patience” as he announced Jerusalem was preparing to intensify its campaign against the Houthis.
“We will take a strong, determined and complex action. Even if it takes time, the result will be the same,” he vowed. Just as we have acted forcefully against Iran's formidable arsenal of evil, we will also act against the Houthis.