IDF smashes three Yemeni ports, strikes capital Sana’a after patience over Houthi attacks runs out
JERUSALEM – Israel’s patience with its Iranian-backed Yemenite adversary – the Houthis – ran out overnight, as it launched a wave of airstrikes against key infrastructure sites. Nine people were reported killed as Israeli fighter jets took out Yemen’s three main ports, as well as power stations.
Israeli fighter jets bomb multiple targets in Yemen: power stations hit, leaving large areas in the dark; Hudaydah port & Ras Isa oil terminal attacked again; at least 9 reportedly killed. via @N12News https://t.co/LghUcbCSAg
— Israel Radar (@IsraelRadar_com) December 19, 2024
The Houthis fired a ballistic missile toward Israel in the early hours of Thursday morning, which set off incoming rocket alert sirens across large swaths of Israel’s central region – including Tel Aviv – causing millions of people to seek cover in safe rooms and shelters. Israel’s planes were already in the sky on their way to attack Yemen while this rocket was flying toward the Jewish state. It marked the second time since Monday that Iran’s terrorist proxy in the Gulf of Aden had fired a ballistic missile – as well as a drone – toward Israel’s densely concentrated population centers. No injuries or loss of life were reported, although an elementary school in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, was so badly damaged it might need to be torn down. It was thought to be either a fragment from the intercepted rocket or shrapnel from the interceptor missile, which caused the building’s destruction.
F*ck around and find out: The Yemeni edition
The remaining power stations and oil refineries in Houthi controlled Yemen were destroyed by Israel tonight, following their ballistic missile launch on Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/AwTLBFj0X9
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) December 19, 2024
Reports emerged Israeli military officials have been planning a heavy response to the Houthis for some time, and were waiting for the provocation that would almost inevitably emerge. On Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei warned Israel the so-called “axis of resistance” had not been broken, despite the fall of Assad’s Syria. Even prior to this threat, it had been assumed the Houthis, who remain the most largely untouched of Iran’s proxy groups, would be activated to up their involvement.
According to a statement by the military, dozens of Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft participated in the strikes in Yemen, including fighter jets, refuelers and spy planes, some 2,000 kilometers from their home bases. In the first wave, Houthi targets were struck at the Hodeida port — which Israel has struck twice before — and also at the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea, as well as the Salif port. In the second wave of strikes, the Yemeni capital Sana’a was attacked, in which two power stations, the Haziz and D’Habban, were hit.
IAF fighter jets struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and in inland Yemen.
Over the past year, the Houthi terrorist regime has been operating with the direction and funding of Iran, and in cooperation with Iraqi militias in… pic.twitter.com/hYNRstbhxP
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 19, 2024
It is not only Israel which has borne the brunt of this, but also international shipping in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. This has occasioned U.S. and U.K. airstrikes on the Houthis, as Iran yet again leverages its hegemonic ambitions for the region on the backs of Arab blood and treasure. Indeed, earlier in the week, CENTCOM announced it had destroyed a Houthi command and control center used in the targeting of U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels.
While the degradation of Yemen’s infrastructure is an important step, the limits of these kinds of attacks can be easily juxtaposed when we look at the cases of Hamas and Hezbollah side-by-side.
Even after nearly 15 months of fighting in Gaza, and amid a loss of men, materiel, and senior leaders, Hamas is still somehow not on its knees. Israel has targeted as much infrastructure as it can, and yet, despite the seeming proximity of some kind of hostage deal, Gaza’s Islamist rulers have not yet tapped out. In the case of Hezbollah, where the IDF had exceptional intel and had been planning operations in some cases years in advance – if the exploding pagers is anything to go by – it was able to so successfully target senior, mid-range, and lower-level commanders and operatives. This was also coupled with an ability to cross the Lebanese border and take out terrorist infrastructure on the ground.
Israel’s security services seemingly have much patchier knowledge about Houthi command structures, and without a contiguous border, the prospect of landing troops there is effectively nil. Israel’s military and defense establishment will want to quicky identify and target senior Houthi leaders if it wants a modicum of the same successes it enjoyed against Hamas and especially Hezbollah.