From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Houthis threaten strikes on Israeli ports and oil fields, further maritime disruptions
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
The Iran-backed Houthis are preparing to strike new sensitive targets in Israel and the region, according to sources from Yemen’s capital Sana’a quoted by the Lebanese Hezbollah-affiliated daily Al-Akhbar.
Sources close to the Yemeni militia quoted by Al-Akhbar say that in response to the Israeli retaliatory strike on the Houthi-controlled Hodeida port in western Yemen on Saturday, itself a response to a deadly Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv, Houthi military leaders have added new items to their “target bank.”
The Yemeni rebel group — in cooperation with other members of the Axis of Resistance, Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria — is said to be planning to hit the Israeli Mediterranean ports of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Haifa, in addition to the Red Sea port of Eilat.
The Israeli gas fields in the Mediterranean are now also said to be in the Houthis’ crosshairs, as well as oil tankers transporting fuel from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to Israel through the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Houthis are also said to be planning to target maritime trade in the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean and the rebel group is said to aim to use long-range projectiles to target “enemy maritime trade” directed toward the Cape of Good Hope along African coasts.
The route is much longer than the one through the Suez Canal, but has become increasingly popular since the Houthis began targeting ships transiting through the Red Sea with alleged connections to Israel, the United States or Britain.
