The IDF’s impressive strike against Yemen’s Houthis on Sunday was the most powerful one against the terror group since the beginning of the war, even exceeding the massive strike on Hodeidah in July, sources told The Jerusalem Post ahead of the IDF announcement.
Dozens of Israeli aircraft, including F-15I fighter planes, participated in the operation, striking 1,800 kilometers from Israeli territory after the Houthis fired three ballistic missiles on the Tel Aviv and central Israel areas in recent weeks, including one on Saturday.
The Houthi Health Ministry said the attack resulted in the deaths of four fighters and the wounding of 29, without any attempt to distinguish between Houthi members and civilians.
According to Hezbollah-affiliated outlet Al Mayadeen and confirmed by the IDF, the targets of the strikes were oil reserves in Ras Issa and also the port of Hodeidah.
Additional targets included power plants and a seaport used to import oil, which the Houthis used to transfer Iranian weapons to the region, in addition to military supplies and oil, IDF reported.
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"Israeli aggression targets the city of Hodeidah," Houthi-owned Lebanese media Al Masirah posted.
The IDF noted that the Houthis have cooperated with Iraqi militias, who are Iranian proxies, to attack.
Pressed, multiple military sources implied – both Sunday and last week – that Israel is still trying to avoid directly striking these militias. This is done to prevent unnecessarily complicating the situation in that country for the US, which Jerusalem hopes can maintain its influence there.
The military said it was impressive that the air force had managed such a large and complex operation while also attacking Israel’s adversaries in Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, and elsewhere – all in the last 16 hours.
The Houthi-run Al Masirah announced that the Civil Defense has begun working to put out the fire at the current power station, which was caused by the strikes.
In a statement published to the Al Masira X/Twitter account, visual spokesperson for the Houthis Mohammad Abdul Salam said, “The American-backed Zionist aggression is condemned, denounced and rejected and cannot affect the will of the Yemeni people. What the Yemeni people confirm in their million weekly demonstrations is that they will not abandon Gaza and Lebanon.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Nasser Kanaani, has condemned the strikes, saying they targeted a power plant and fuel tanks. Reuters reported.
In the situational assessment during the strikes in Yemen, Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said, “We know how to reach very far, we know how to reach even farther, and we know how to strike there with precision.”
“I'm looking at the axis, led by Iran, with Hezbollah as a very central factor,” he continued, “Hezbollah has been hit very hard in the last month, the last two weeks, and the last three days, it has lost its head, and we need to keep hitting Hezbollah hard. This is the main focus, and we must also adapt our tools for other places."
IDF Air Force Chief Tomer Bar, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant all congratulated the pilots and vowed that Israel’s long arm would strike any enemies who continued to harass the Jewish state.
Gallant said that Israel prefers not to open new warfronts, but neither will it turn the other cheek.
Yemeni oil company statement
Al Masirah reported that the Yemeni Oil Company issued a statement reassuring citizens that all necessary precautions had been taken, stressing that the supply in all areas under their control was completely stable.
The company warned against creating a new oil crisis in the capital, Sana'a, and the rest of the governorates, explaining that it had previously taken precautions necessary for any emergency.
The IDF said its intelligence arm selected targets based on where Iran has been delivering weapons to the Houthis, mixing civilian locations with military use to then attack Israel.
The IDF added that the Houthis have been attacking Israel throughout this past year, not only this past month.
The terror group launched many ballistic missiles and drones at Eilat. In July, a drone from the Houthis killed a civilian in Tel Aviv.
July airstrikes
THE ISRAELI airstrikes in July targeted oil-refining facilities in Hodeidah, as well as Yemeni air force assets, to disrupt the transport of Iranian weapons to Yemen. Reports indicate that the strikes resulted in the deaths or injuries of dozens of people.
In July, local sources in Yemen told Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen that there were power outages in several areas in Hodeidah as a result of the Israeli strikes that hit an electricity production plant.
Israel was clear that it had undertaken the attack without US help, though it had notified Washington in advance.
Additionally, there were hints that allied Arab countries like Saudi Arabia could have assisted in July by allowing the use of their airspace or refueling, which has been long discussed.
Despite the immensity of the IDF’s July attack on the Houthis, sources told the Post that Sunday’s attack was far more severe in an effort to finally deter them from further attacking Israel.
Yemeni attack on Tel Aviv
The missile attack on Saturday set off sirens throughout central Israel, including in Tel Aviv. Despite the recovery of shrapnel on Route 375 near Tzur Hadassah, there were no reported injuries.
Until July, the IDF had outsourced responses to the Houthis to the US, which was fighting the group over various maritime aggression issues. However, after the Houthis killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, the Jewish state struck back directly for the first time.
During Israel’s July counterstrike, it took two hours and 50 minutes for the IDF’s F-15s, F-35s, and other fighter jets, which carried out around 10 airstrikes against the Houthis, to reach their targets in the Hodeidah Port area. Those aircraft took off around 3 p.m. on July 20 and struck their targets around 6 p.m.
Although the IDF kept classified the exact number of aircraft it used to refuel its fighter jets to make the 1,800-kilometer flight and return safely during that July attack, it provided a dramatic video showing some of the mid-air refueling in real-time.
Sunday’s flights and refueling were equally complex, intended to completely destroy the Houthis’ capability (as opposed to a partial cut in July) to receive refined products, including weapons, from Iran.
Saturday's missile attack triggered sirens across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, and although shrapnel was recovered on Route 375 near Tzur Hadassah, no injuries were reported.