Israel launched a fifth new wave of strikes, targeting military installations and sites in Sanaa and Amran in Yemen, on Friday, and also targeted the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Issa on the Red Sea, in parallel and in “coordination” with American and British strikes.
The Israeli army confirmed that it launched strikes on Sanaa and Hodeidah, while the Houthi “Ansar Allah” group said that “12 raids targeted its positions in the Harf Sufyan District of Amran Governorate (50 kilometers north of Sanaa).”
The raids also targeted sites controlled by the Houthis in the vicinity of the presidential palace in Sanaa, where the “Al-Nahdain and Al-Hafa” camps are located, in addition to a power generation station south of the city (Haziz station), in conjunction with a series of raids that hit the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Issa oil on the Red Sea.
An American official explained that the strikes were coordinated but not joint, according to what was reported by the American website Axios, while Houthi reports spoke of the killing of one person and the wounding of 9 others.
According to the Israeli army statement, the targets it struck included military infrastructure sites at the Haziz power station in Sanaa and military infrastructure in the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Issa on the west coast, according to the statement.
Following the strikes, Reuters quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying, “The Houthis are paying and will continue to pay a heavy price for their aggression against us.”
For his part, the Israeli Defense Minister described the new strikes as a clear message to the Houthis that Israel will continue to act forcefully against anyone who poses a threat to its security, and vowed to say: “Israel’s long hand will pursue the Houthi leaders anywhere.”
The Houthi group did not immediately talk about the impact of these strikes, in terms of material or human losses, amid fears that the new strikes would permanently paralyze the ports of Hodeidah, after the damage caused by the previous strikes, which would mean more human suffering in the areas under control. community.
In turn, the military spokesman for the group, Yahya Saree, confirmed “attacking the US aircraft carrier Harry Truman and its accompanying military equipment with missiles and drones. He also claimed responsibility for attacking Tel Aviv in Israel with three drones, which the Israeli army said in a statement that the Air Force had intercepted.” , Thursday evening.
Israel responded to the Houthi attacks last July 20, targeting fuel depots in the port of Hodeidah, killing 6 people and wounding about 80 others.
Last September 29, Israel bombed fuel warehouses in both Hodeidah and Ras Issa port, and also targeted two power stations in Hodeidah, in addition to the city’s airport, which has been out of service for years. These raids resulted in the deaths of 4 people and the injury of about 30 people.
The strikes were repeated on December 19. Israeli aircraft launched about 14 raids on the three ports of Hodeidah, controlled by the Houthis in western Yemen, and on two electricity generating stations in Sanaa. Which led to the death of 9 people, and the injury of 3 others.
In the fourth time of retaliatory strikes, last December 26, Tel Aviv targeted, for the first time, Sanaa Airport, and struck a power station in the city for the second time, and also targeted a power station in Hodeidah and the Ras Issa oil port. These strikes led to the death of 6 people and the injury of 6 people. More than 40, as recognized by health authorities subject to the group.
On Wednesday, the US army announced the targeting of two weapons storage facilities belonging to the group in the southern countryside of Sanaa and in the neighboring Amran governorate to the north, a day after the Houthis claimed about attacking Israeli military targets and an American aircraft carrier north of the Red Sea.
The Houthi media admitted receiving 6 raids in Sanaa and Amran, two in the Jarban area of the Sanhan District in the southern suburb of Sanaa, and 4 raids that hit the Harf Sufyan District north of the Amran Governorate. The two sites include fortified camps and weapons stores since before the Houthi coup.
For more than 14 months, the group has been launching attacks against ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and other attacks towards Israel, under allegations of supporting the Palestinians in Gaza, while Washington launches corresponding strikes to limit the group’s capabilities.
The Houthi attacks led to the damage of dozens of ships, the sinking of two ships, the piracy of a third, and the killing of three sailors, in addition to estimates of a decline in the passage of commercial ships through Bab al-Mandab, by more than 50 percent.
In response to this escalation, the group received about a thousand air strikes and naval bombardments during a year of American intervention, which led to the killing of 106 people and the injury of 314 others.
In December 2023, the United States established an alliance that it called “Guardian of Prosperity.” In response to the Houthi attacks against ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, before launching its air strikes starting on January 12, 2024, with the participation of Britain on a number of occasions.
The strikes targeted sites in Sanaa, Saada, Ibb, Taiz, and Dhamar, while the majority of the strikes were carried out by coastal Hodeidah. Washington also resorted to using stealth bombers, for the first time, to target fortified Houthi sites. However, all of this did not prevent the escalation of the group’s operations, which claimed responsibility for attacking more than 211 ships since November 2023.
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