Israel vows to target Houthi leaders, ratcheting up threat after missile fire
Defense Minister Katz says Houthi chiefs will share fate of slain Hamas, Hezbollah leaders; Foreign Minister Sa’ar seeks European designation of Houthis as terror group
Israel will begin targeting leaders of Yemen’s Houthi rebel group, Defense Minister Israel Katz said Tuesday, vowing that Israel will not allow missile and drone fire on Israel to continue unchecked.
Firing at Houthi leaders would seem to mark an escalation by Israel, which has so far targeted port infrastructure and military sites in a handful of sorties in response to repeated launches of drones and ballistic missiles from Yemen. A missile fired early Tuesday was shot down, but sirens in the Tel Aviv area caused widespread panic and a rush to shelter left one woman seriously injured. It was the fourth drone or missile attack within a week from Yemen.
“Just as we took care of (Yayha) Sinwar in Gaza, (Ismail) Haniyeh in Tehran and (Hassan) Nasrallah in Beirut, we will deal with the heads of the Houthis in Sana’a or anywhere in Yemen,” Katz said, referring to the leaders of terror group Hamas and Hezbollah killed by Israel.
“We will act both against their infrastructure and against them to remove the threat,” he added while visiting an Arrow air defense system battery used to shoot down the Houthi missile overnight.
He also leveled a threat at the Houthis’ Iranian backers, vowing that “whoever sponsors the Houthi terror in Hodeida or Sana’a will pay the full price” naming a major port and the Yemen capital, respectively, both Houthis-controlled locations that Israel has bombed in retaliation for missile attacks.
Katz also received a briefing from Lt. Col. Eyal Frenkel, commander of the 136th Herev Magen Battalion of the IAF’s Air Defense Corps, responsible for intercepting long-range missiles.
Katz’s warning came the day after he threatened to “decapitate” the Houthi leadership in remarks that also confirmed Israel’s hand in killing Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar instructed Israel’s diplomatic missions in the European Union and in the United Kingdom to push for the designation of the Houthi Ansar Allah movement as a terrorist organization, his office said.
While no European countries list the Houthis as a terrorist organization, the US, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Israel do.
“The Houthis pose a threat not only to Israel but to the region and the entire world,” Sa’ar said in a statement referring to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, which they have linked to attacks on Israel.
“The direct threat to freedom of navigation in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes is a challenge to the international community and the world order,” Sa’ar said. “The first and most basic thing is to define them as a terrorist organization.”
Sa’ar also called on the UN Security Council to condemn the Houthi attacks on Israel.
Hours before the missile attack on Tel Aviv, the Houthis claimed responsibility for launching drones at Israel on Monday afternoon.
The IDF said that the air force shot down one drone outside of Israeli airspace.
The Houthis claimed to have launched two drones, at targets in Ashkelon and the Tel Aviv area. There were no reports of impacts in either city on Monday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also warned on Sunday that Israel would act against the Houthis in Yemen with the same force it used against Iran’s other “terrorist arms,” appearing to indicate the start of a stepped-up campaign against the Islamic Republic’s proxy group after a ballistic missile crashed into a Tel Aviv playground overnight Friday, lightly injuring 16 people.
On Thursday, a multistory school building in Ramat Gan collapsed after it was hit by the warhead from a partially intercepted ballistic missile fired at Israel by Houthi rebels.
Israel and the US have carried out strikes against Houthi targets throughout Yemen in recent days but they don’t seem to have deterred the rebel group.
The Houthis have vowed to keep attacking Israel until the end of the war in the Gaza Strip that began on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Israel is battling to destroy Hamas in Gaza and save the hostages.
Hezbollah, which began attacking from Lebanon the day after the Hamas assault, made similar pledges to continue firing rockets and drones at Israel until a ceasefire was reached in Gaza but caved last month and agreed to a ceasefire after two months of Israeli attacks that decimated the Lebanese terror group’s capabilities while killing almost all of its senior commanders, including veteran leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel has also killed Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah are all avowed to destroy Israel.
Senior opposition politician Benny Gantz argued Monday that Israel “must target Iran directly” over the attacks.
Israel’s security establishment apparently agrees with Gantz, with Channel 12 reporting Sunday that the question of tackling Iran — a possible reference both to efforts to deter the Houthis and to target Iran’s nuclear facilities — has come up repeatedly in security cabinet meetings, even as the focus has been on finding ways to counter the upsurge in Houthi attacks.
Iran has also twice fired missile barrages of hundreds of missiles at Israel this year, which were largely intercepted by air defenses in cooperation with the US and its regional allies. Israel has bombed Iran in retaliation, taking out some key rocket and drone sites as well as air defense systems.
The Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the past year. According to the IDF, the vast majority did not reach Israel or were intercepted by the military and Israeli allies in the region.
Israel has carried out airstrikes against Houthi targets three times in response to the group’s attacks, the latest on Thursday.
The Iran-backed group has also carried out repeated missile and drone attacks on some 100 merchant vessels attempting to traverse the Red Sea, forcing many carriers to avoid the key waterway and hamstringing global shipping. The Houthis initially said they were going to attack Israel-linked ships but few of the vessels targeted had ties to Israel.
