IDF spotlights aerial refueling operations during strikes on Yemen’s Houthis
Video shows F-35 jets flying alongside tanker plane during mission to bomb Iran-backed terror group’s infrastructure; CNN journalist reports from inside refueling aircraft
The IDF released footage Monday of aerial refueling operations during a strike mission the day before on infrastructure in Yemen used by the Iran-backed Houthis.
According to the military, dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, refueling planes and spy planes, participated in the strikes against the Houthis, some 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) from Israel.
The strike was carried out in response to the ongoing Houthi missile attacks on Israel, including two that targeted central Israel in recent days. It targeted sites used by the Houthi regime for military purposes at the port city of Hodeidah and the nearby Ras Isa port in western Yemen, the IDF said.
The footage showed an IAF Boeing 707 refueling an F-35 fighter jet during the operation.
Joining the mission was CNN correspondent Nic Robertson who reported Monday that when he boarded the plane at the invitation of the IDF, he had no idea where it was going or the purpose of the mission. He said that it was only when he was shown a mission map that he realized that the planes were going to bomb Hodeidah Port in Yemen.
Robertson said he was not allowed to bring a camera with him or even his cellphone, in keeping with Israeli Air Force protocols. Though he was permitted to roam the aircraft, the cockpit was out of bounds.
Robertson described the plane as being a melding of decades-old fittings from its previous life as a passenger jet and hi-tech equipment. The 707 first entered civilian service in 1958, and the last one was produced in 1979.
Where rows of seats had formerly carried passengers there were large pressurized fuel tanks to feed the thirsty fighter jets that flocked to the plane, Robertson reported.
The mid-flight refuel took an hour and a half, with each F-35 jet requiring about three minutes of attention.
An officer explained that refueling is carefully scheduled to ensure that the attacking jets reach their target tanked up and ready to carry out the attack.
The tanker loitered at the ready until the planes had completed their bombing runs and were heading home, in case any were forced to use precious fuel in evasive maneuvers, though in this case its services were not needed again, Robertson reported.
Four people were killed and 29 wounded in the attack, the Houthi-run health ministry said in a statement.
Asked about the risk of civilian casualties on such a mission, the lead pilot of the tanker told Robertson that there is no desire to kill civilians and Israel uses all the intelligence available to avoid that happening.
The pilot also noted that the Houthis are firing at Israeli civilians.
Robertson was accompanied on the flight by IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani.
The spokesman said the mission was also meant as a warning to Iran to stay out of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Shoshani recalled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s veiled threat to Iran during the speech he gave Friday at the United Nations General Assembly.
“There is no place — there is no place in Iran — that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that’s true of the entire Middle East,” Netanyahu said.
The IDF said the strikes were carried out in response to the Houthis recent ballistic missile attacks on Israel, including three this month, the latest being on Saturday when a missile fired by the Houthis at central Israel was shot down without causing injuries. The terror group said it was aimed at Ben Gurion Airport, where Netanyahu’s plane had just landed, bringing him home from New York.
It was only the second-ever Israeli strike in Yemen, after in July, the IAF conducted an attack on Yemen’s Hodeidah port after a drone hit Tel Aviv, killing a man in his apartment.
Yemen’s Houthis have fired over 220 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel over the past 11 months — mostly toward the southernmost city of Eilat — saying, similarly to Hezbollah, that the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been battling Hamas since the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 attack.
Israel has killed the vast majority of Hezbollah’s top leadership in the past few weeks.
Emanuel Fabian and agencies contributed to this report.
