The US has informed Israel that, by the end of US President Joe Biden’s term in office, America intends to escalate its attacks on Yemen’s Houthis, KAN 11 reported on Friday evening.
As part of the expanded US strikes on Yemen, and amid increased Houthi attacks on Israel, the Americans will hit more missile-related targets, KAN added. An informed source further told the Israeli public broadcaster that President Biden gave the US "permissive strike authorizations" for these operations.
Concurrently however, KAN reported that the Biden administration has asked Israel to ensure that the targets it strikes in Yemen are military, rather than civilian.
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) published footage of US Navy guided-missile destroyers from the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group firing Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles at Houthi weapon production and storage facilities in Yemen early Saturday morning.
The US strikes followed a Houthi missile attack directed at southern and central Israel early Friday morning. The Yemeni terror organization later claimed responsibility for the incident.
The IDF intercepted the projectile after it was identified crossing into Israeli territory and no one was hurt by the missile, even after shrapnel fell in Modi'in.
Twelve people however, were injured as they made their way to shelters.
Trump's plans
On Wednesday, two sources told The Jerusalem Post that US President-elect Donald Trump was getting ready to increase activity against the Houthis once he is sworn in as president on January 20.
“Trump will not stand for having US Navy ships attacked every day by the Houthis using Iranian missiles,” former US Special Representative for Iran Elliot Abrams said. "He will hit the Houthis harder, and he will threaten Iran that if a missile [that] Iran supplied kills an American, Iran will get hit directly.”
Additionally, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Mark Dubowitz, predicted that Trump would return the Houthis to the State Department’s Foreign Terrorists Organizations list.
Amichai Stein and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report