The Israeli Air Force carried out its largest strike to date on Yemen’s capital of Sanaa on Thursday, targeting Houthi military and intelligence sites a day after a drone slammed into the Red Sea resort town of Eilat, wounding more than 20 people, some seriously, the military said.
According to the IDF, about 20 fighter jets and dozens of additional aircraft carried out the operation, dropping more than 65 munitions on seven targets including command centers, weapons depots and Houthi military compounds. The assault, codenamed Operation Passing Package, took place some 2,200 kilometers (1,367 miles) from Israeli territory. Aerial refueling was conducted mid-operation, the military said.
The strikes coincided with a recorded speech by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, leader of the Iran-backed rebel group. A local source in Sanaa told Ynet that two missiles struck the same site where Houthi government ministers were killed last month in a targeted strike. “My house shook and people here are terrified,” the source said. “The strike happened at the very moment the Houthi leader began his speech.”
Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said “more than 11 Israeli strikes” hit Houthi sites, while Al Hadath reported 13 strikes on military facilities in the central Sabeen Square and the Bab al-Yemen neighborhood.
The IDF said the raids targeted Houthi intelligence headquarters, propaganda units and security compounds involved in planning and executing drone and missile attacks against Israel. “The security and intelligence apparatus is one of the internal security mechanisms of the Houthi terrorist regime; it takes part in terrorist activities and directly contributes to military actions against the State of Israel that undermine stability in the Middle East,” the military said in a statement, also accusing the Houthis of repressing dissent through political prisons and torture.
The Houthis, supported and funded by Iran, have launched waves of drones and missiles toward Israel since the Gaza war erupted last year. Israel says its operations in Yemen are aimed at stopping those attacks and protecting international shipping lanes.
“The IDF will operate against the ongoing and repeated attacks of the Houthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel, will conduct additional offensive operations against the Houthi regime in the near future, and remains determined to remove any threat posed to the civilians of the State of Israel, at whatever distance is required,” the military said.
Houthi-linked outlets claimed Israeli aircraft were forced to retreat after encountering Yemeni air defenses, and reported that a power station in central Sanaa had been hit. Yemen’s Civil Defense agency accused Israel of “attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure” and said rescue teams were dispatched to targeted areas.
A source told Ynet that strikes also hit the presidential palace district of al-Nahdain, the upscale Hadda neighborhood and a commercial power station on al-Rabat Street.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he authorized the strikes while aboard his official plane en route to New York for the UN General Assembly, receiving updates from Defense Minister Israel Katz, the army chief of staff and his military secretary.
A Houthi drone strikes a tourist area in Eilat
(Video: Israel Police)
Wednesday's drone strike on a tourist area in Eilat followed two failed attempts by the Iron Dome air defense system to bring the drone down, the military said. Hours later, another missile launched from Yemen fell short.
Videos shared online appeared to show celebratory shouts of “Allahu akbar” and whistling from the Jordanian port city of Aqaba, just across the border from Eilat, moments after the drone strike.
The drone that struck Eilat on Wednesday was the third to hit the city and its surroundings in less than two weeks. Last week, a drone exploded at the entrance to the Jacob Hotel in Eilat without causing injuries. A week earlier, a Houthi drone hit the passenger terminal of Ramon Airport, just north of the city, lightly wounding two airport workers and causing damage.