Israel carries out air strikes on Yemen 

A series of intense Israeli air attacks shook Yemen’s capital and a port city, killing at least nine people, according to reports by Houthi-controlled media.

Israel’s military said it had attacked “military targets” belonging to Houthi fighters “in the western coastal strip and deep inside Yemen” on Thursday morning, after intercepting a missile fired by the group towards Israel.

“The targets attacked are used by the Houthi forces for their military operations,” the military said in a statement.

Al Masirah TV, the main news outlet run by Yemen’s Houthi movement controlling much of the country, said seven people were killed in an Israeli attack on the port of as-Salif and the rest in two strikes on the Ras Isa oil facility; both are located in the western province of Hodeidah.

“The enemy launched four aggressive raids targeting the port … and two raids targeting” an oil facility, Al Masirah reported.

The series of “aggressive raids” also targeted two central power stations south and north of the capital, Sanaa, it added.

Yemen’s SABA news agency also reported that four raids targeted Hodeidah, with two hitting the Ras Isa oil facility, killing and injuring some of its employees.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said its forces had carried out attacks on Houthi military sites, including ports and energy infrastructure in Sanaa, following the firing of a Houthi missile towards Israel overnight – which was destroyed – and repeated attacks over the past 14 months.

“I warn the leaders of the Houthi terrorist organisation: Israel’s long hand will reach you as well,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a post on X. “Whoever raises a hand against the state of Israel, his hand will be cut off; whoever harms, will be harmed sevenfold.”

Israel previously struck Hodeidah in July and September, killing at least four people.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi’s political bureau, claimed the US is part of the recent Israeli attacks on his country.

“The US-Israeli bombing of civilian facilities in Yemen [power stations and ports] reveals the truth about the West’s hypocrisy and refutes all its humanitarian claims,” he said, adding that the attacks will not stop the Houthis from supporting Gaza.

“We will meet escalation with escalation until the genocide crimes in Gaza stop and food, medicine and fuel are allowed to enter its residents,” he added on X.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Sanaa, Hussain al-Bukhaiti, a pro-Houthi political commentator, said Israel conducted about 13 attacks in Yemen on Thursday.

“Those attacks came as retaliation from Israel against Yemen because Yemen has been conducting on a weekly basis attacks either on Israel directly or on the Red Sea on any ship that is actually aiding the Zionist state of Israel,” he said.

Houthi fighters in Yemen have carried out months of attacks on Israel, and shipping linked to Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, in what it says is a campaign of solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 45,000 people – the majority being women and children.

Hussain al-Bukhaiti said that even though Houthi attacks against Israel and its blockade in the Red Sea have not stopped Israel’s war on Gaza, it has “resulted in the closure of the Eilat port, south of occupied Palestine, as well as increased costs in Israel because now ships linked to Israel cannot use the Red Sea and have to go around Africa”.

“This is actually causing some damage against the Zionist state’s economy. Yemen has said clearly that it will not stop these attacks unless the Israeli regime will stop its attacks against Gaza, lift the blockade and withdraw from Gaza,” he added.