Yemen’s Houthis launched a drone attack at Israel on Monday despite a major joint strike by the US, UK, and Israel against them on Friday.
Air-defense systems intercepted the drone at an undisclosed location in southern Israel in the morning, but air-raid sirens were not activated, the IDF reported, suggesting there had been confidence that the threat would be contained.
There had been some hope that the combination of multiple more aggressive US attacks on the Houthis earlier last week, along with the joint attack on Friday, which was the largest of its kind against the Houthis since the start of the war, might finally deter them from attacking Israel.
Monday’s drone attack seemed to pour cold water on those hopes, although a drone is a smaller threat than a ballistic missile, which the Houthis have not fired since January 5.
For Israel, the joint attack on Friday was the fifth counterattack on Yemen’s Houthis since July. The Houthis have been attacking Israel for about a year.
The US and UK have launched more attacks on the Houthis, but their two rounds of attacks on the Iranian proxy earlier last week, combined with the joint attack with Israel on Friday, marked a significant escalation.
Until now, the problem for Israel and the West has been that despite having better firepower than the Houthis, the Islamist group has not been deterred. It has been willing to endure disproportionate counterstrikes so that it can “stay in the game” against Israel in the Israel-Hama War and continue to cause trouble for global maritime trade for the West, which it views as supportive of Israel.
What did Israel strike in Yemen?
The targets Israel struck on Friday included military infrastructure sites at Hezyaz power station and in the Hodeidah and Ras Issa ports on Yemen’s western coast.
During US Central Command Deputy Commander Brad Cooper’s recent visit to Israel, he and his Israeli counterparts discussed coordinating efforts to deal with the Houthi threat, a person familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post.
Another source confirmed the strike was coordinated with the American-British coalition, which attacked certain targets while Israel simultaneously struck others. There was no cooperation in the attack on the targets themselves, but each party struck different ones.
It was relatively clear how the “work” would be “split” between Israel and the coalition, according to the source.
The coalition was expected to attack weapons facilities, control and command bases, and underground places, while Israel would strike the Houthis’ economic facilities, which have military and civilian use, such as seaports, airports, and power plants.
More than 20 Israeli aircraft partook in the Friday strikes, with about 50 munitions being dropped on terrorist targets in Yemen.
Airstrikes on Yemen’s Port of Ras Issa on Friday targeted oil storage facilities in the vicinity of the shipping berths, but no merchant vessels were said to have been damaged, British security firm Ambrey reported.
According to reports, the 12 strikes north of the capital, Sanaa, were conducted by the US and UK on underground infrastructure belonging to the Houthis.
A strike also reportedly hit Sanaa’s main square during the weekly Friday protests in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Some six strikes also reportedly targeted the Port of Hodeidah.
Israel last struck Houthi targets in December, attacking ports and energy infrastructure in Sanaa.
The Houthis have fired more than 200 ballistic missiles and 320 drones at Israel over the course of the war. Israel has had to shoot down about 40 of them.
Amichai Stein, Danielle Greyman-Kennard, Jerusalem Post Staff, and Reuters contributed to this report.