Netanyahu: Strike on Houthi port shows Israel will reach enemies however far away
Israeli leaders say attack a message not just to Yemen rebels, but to Iran and Hezbollah; Houthi spokesperson: Strike won’t stop us from continuing to support Gaza
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s attack on a Houthi-controlled port in Yemen on Saturday “makes it clear to our enemies that there is no place that the long arm of Israel will not reach.”
Three people were reportedly killed and 87 were injured in the Israeli Air Force strike that targeted fuel depots, energy-related sites and other facilities at the Hodeidah port, sparking massive fires.
According to the IDF, the port has been used repeatedly to bring in weapons from Iran, and therefore Israel saw it as a legitimate military target. It marked the first IDF strikes in Yemen since the Houthis began carrying out hundreds of attacks against Israel and Red Sea shipping routes in purported solidarity with the Palestinians following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught against Israel, which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.
It also came a day after a Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv that killed one Israeli civilian and wounded several others.
“I have a message for Israel’s enemies – don’t be mistaken about us,” Netanyahu said in a televised statement. “We will protect ourselves in every way, on every front. Anyone who harms us will pay a very heavy price for his aggression.”
“The port we attacked is not an innocent port,” he added. “It was used as an entry point for deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran.”
The fire that is currently burning in Yemen is seen across the Middle East. The blood of Israeli citizens has a price. pic.twitter.com/r3Aq3GNl1J
— יואב גלנט – Yoav Gallant (@yoavgallant) July 20, 2024
Israeli leaders stressed that the strike was a message not only to the Houthis but to Iran and its other proxies in the region, including Hamas and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, which has been attacking Israeli communities and military posts along the northern border on a near-daily basis since October 8.
“The fire that is currently burning in Hodeida is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a video statement.
“The Houthis attacked us over 200 times. The first time that they harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required.”
“The blood of Israeli citizens has a price. This has been made clear in Lebanon, in Gaza, in Yemen and in other places — if they dare to attack us, the result will be identical,” Gallant warned.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Iran’s message of an “obliterating war” against Israel makes it worthy of destruction.
”A regime that threatens destruction deserves to be destroyed,” Katz said in a post on X. He also said Israel will act with full force against Iran-backed Hezbollah if it does not stop firing at Israel from Lebanon and move away from the border.
Iran’s UN mission said last month that if Israel embarks on “full-scale military aggression” in Lebanon, “an obliterating war will ensue.”
The Iranian mission also said in the post on X that in such an event “all options, incl. the full involvement of all resistance fronts, are on the table.”
Following the Saturday Israeli strike, an Iran foreign ministry spokesman warned that Israel’s “dangerous adventurism” could spark a regional war.
Nasser Kanaani added that Israel and its sponsors — including the US government — are “directly responsible for the dangerous and unpredictable consequences of the adventurist attacks on Yemen.”
A Houthi spokesman said Saturday evening that “the aim [of Israel’s strike] was pressuring Yemen to stop supporting Gaza, which is a dream that will not come true. This will only increase the determination of the Yemeni people and their armed forces to support Gaza.”
The Houthi spokesman described the Hodeidah Port as a civilian target, asserting that the Israeli attack targeted a power station that supplies the city of Hodeidah’s electricity.
Hezbollah separately declared in a statement, “The foolish step taken by the Zionist enemy heralds a new, dangerous phase of a very important confrontation across the entire region.”
In a statement Saturday night, Israeli military spokesman Rear-Adm Daniel Hagari said that Israel “attacked the port area because it is a supply route for the transfer of Iranian weapons, from Iran to Yemen, and it is a significant economic source for Houthi terror.
“Yemen is a large country; only part of it is controlled by Houthi terror. We have no intention of attacking the Yemeni people,” Hagari said.
He referred to the Houthis’ attacks on merchant ships, which have been ongoing since November. The Houthis have targeted more than 70 vessels by firing missiles and drones in their campaign, killing four sailors. The rebels have seized one vessel and sunk two since November.
The Houthis maintain that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain as part of the rebels’ support for the Hamas terror group in its war against Israel. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war — including some bound for Iran.
Hagari noted that the attack on Saturday was conducted by Israeli forces alone, but called on other countries to support Israel’s efforts against the Houthis, saying the terror group’s attacks on shipping were a global concern.
Meanwhile, a White House National Security Council spokesperson said after the strike in Yemen that the US “fully recognizes and acknowledge Israel’s right to self-defense.”
During a later call with Gallant, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin “acknowledged Israel’s action followed months of Houthi attacks against the State of Israel,” a US readout said.
A spokesman for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he “is deeply concerned” about the Israeli strike, while acknowledging Israel’s assertion that it was in response to repeated Houthi attacks.
“The secretary-general calls on all concerned to avoid attacks that could harm civilians and damage civilian infrastructure,” the spokesman said, adding that Guterres “remains deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation in the region and continues to urge all to exercise utmost restraint.”
Within Israel, the strikes were welcomed across the political spectrum.
In a post to X on Saturday night, opposition chair Yair Lapid, of the center-left Yesh Atid party, commended the Air Force for a “perfect operation,” calling the strike “justified and precise.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, of far-right Otzma Yehudit, posted the word “Bomba!” an anachronistic slang that means both “wonderful” and “a hard blow,” while literally translating to “bomb” in several languages.
Jacob Magid and AFP contributed to this report.
