The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen are seeking to show they are not yet defeated by several days of American airstrikes. US President Donald Trump vowed that the Houthi rebels will be “completely annihilated” if they don’t yield.
The terrorist group launched a missile toward central Israel at around 4 a.m. Thursday morning. It fired a missile toward the Negev on Wednesday. It also targeted the Egyptian Sinai throughout the week.
What is it looking to do? It wants to show it still has some capabilities and is seeking to call what it may think is a bluff by the Trump administration.
Millions of Israelis were woken up by air-raid sirens on Thursday morning. This had been routine in December and early January, when the Houthis launched missiles every few nights.
The Houthis control a swath of Yemen and are equipped with long-range drones and ballistic missiles – mostly based on Iranian technology transfer. Iran could be held responsible for continued Houthi attacks, the White House warned.
Over the week, however, Tehran has tried to distance itself from the Houthis, claiming that they make their own decisions. The Houthis claimed they had targeted Ben-Gurion Airport, using “a ballistic missile known as Palestine 2.”
“The operation marked the fifth consecutive day of effective and responsible retaliation against US aggression, particularly following attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and several Yemeni provinces,” Houthi spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Yahya Saree said.
The group has “intensified their efforts to target enemy warships in the Red Sea, including the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and its accompanying naval vessels,” he said, adding that the US would fail in its attempts to bomb the Houthis into submission.
'Retaliation against US aggression'
The statement was made after the US carried out more airstrikes against the port city of Hodeidah and the city of Sa’ada. The US strikes had killed 53 people, the Houthis said.
The attacks on Israel are an attempt by the Houthis to show that Israel remains a reachable target – even under the watchful eyes of the new US administration. That means they feel they can still wheel out their missiles from hiding places, such as cave complexes, and launch them.
This poses a challenge for the US and Israel, as it shows that air power alone may not be able to stop the missiles.
During the Gulf War in 1991, the Saddam regime was able to launch Scud missiles at Israel from Iraq’s western Anbar province, despite the massive US-led coalition strikes on Iraq. This led to the “great Scud hunt,” where the US, UK, and others sought to find the Scuds.
The “hunt” was not very successful. It is hard to find ballistic missiles and their launch sites.
Technology has progressed since then, but it remains to be seen whether the US and Israel can put a stop to the Houthi aggression.