Yemen's Houthis released footage over the weekend of military exercises attacking a mock Israeli town embossed with the Star of David and hanging portraits of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."The Yemeni Armed Forces organized the 'Battle of the Promised Conquest and Holy Jihad' wargame," the military group announced in a statement. Footage from the training exercises shows armed terrorists entering a town with buildings marked by the Star of David.The footage is reminiscent of the attacks launched by Hamas on October 7, when over 1,200 Israelis were killed. One of the buildings contains a hanging portrait of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while an Israeli bystander who is attacked appears to be dressed in ultra-Orthodox (haredi) clothing.
Houthis respond to Western airstrikes
US and British warplanes, ships, and submarine-launched strikes last week across Yemen in retaliation against Houthi forces for months of attacks on Red Sea shipping that the Iran-backed fighters cast as a response to the war in Gaza. Over 100 such strikes have been launched since last week. The Houthis have regularly attacked ships heading towards Israel as part of the ongoing Israel-Hamas War. "Our military operations in the Israeli depths and the Red Sea caused great losses to both the American and Israeli sides," Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, spokesperson for the Yemeni group, told Lebanese news outlet Al Mayadeen over the weekend. "We will avenge what America and Britain did."
"We had previously only targeted maritime navigation linked to the Zionist entity. Today, American and British ships no longer dare to cross the Red Sea," he added.