Israel retaliated for Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv with airstrikes in Yemen on Saturday reportedly hitting oil and diesel storage facilities at a port.
A media controlled by the Iran-backed Houthi movement Airstrikes were reported in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, which also hit a local electricity company. Al-Masirah TV said the strikes caused deaths and injuries, but gave no details, the Associated Press reported.
He said a major fire had broken out in the port and there were widespread power cuts.
Health officials in Yemen told the AP that the strikes killed a number of people and wounded others, but did not provide further details.
/ AP
The Israeli military said in a statement Saturday that warplanes struck Houthi military targets in the area of Yemen’s al-Hodeidah port. It said the strikes were a “response to the hundreds of attacks carried out against the State of Israel in recent months.”
A U.S. official also confirmed to CBS News that Israel carried out airstrikes in Yemen in retaliation for the Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv on Friday that killed at least one person and wounded at least eight others. The official said the United States was not involved in Saturday’s airstrikes.
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam wrote on the social network X that Yemen was subject to “blatant Israeli aggression” and said the attacks were aimed “at increasing the suffering of the people and putting pressure on Yemen to stop supporting Gaza.”
Abdulsalam said the attacks will only strengthen the resolve of the Yemeni people and their armed forces to support Gaza.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Saturday that the Houthi rebels retaliated because it was the first time they had “injured an Israeli citizen.”
“And we will do it wherever it is necessary,” he said. “The blood of Israeli citizens has a price. This has been clearly demonstrated in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and other places: if they dare to attack us, the result will be the same.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacked port was not “an innocent port” and was being used as an “entry point for deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran.”
“I have a message to the enemies of Israel: make no mistake, we will protect ourselves by all means, on all fronts. Whoever harms us will pay a very high price for his aggression,” he said.
AMIR LEVY / Getty Images
A loud explosion rocked the streets of central Tel Aviv early Friday, startling Israelis, shattering windows and raining shrapnel. Israeli military officials later said the blast was caused by a drone fired from Yemen.
Houthi rebels, who have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognised government in a decade-long civil war, claimed responsibility for the blast, saying in social media posts that it marked a “new phase” in their operations against Israel in response to the Israeli attack. war in progress against the Houthis’ ideological ally, Hamas.
The Houthis said the strike used a “new drone called ‘Yafa,’ capable of evading enemy interception systems,” but a U.S. official told CBS News on Friday, echoing the Israeli military’s analysis, that it appeared to be one of the group’s existing drones, with a modified fuel tank to extend its range.
The drone explosion occurred very close to the US consulate in Tel Aviv, but it is not yet clear whether that was the target.
Based on verified videos posted on social media, CBS News confirmed that the explosion occurred just over 200 meters from the U.S. Consulate in Tel Aviv. A U.S. official told CBS News that no American casualties have been reported.
Since January, American and British forces have been hitting targets in Yemenin response to Houthi attacks on commercial ships, which the rebels have described as retaliation for Israel’s actions in the Gaza war. However, many of the ships targeted have no connection to Israel.
The joint forces’ airstrikes have so far had little effect on the Iranian-backed force.
The Houthis have launched drones and missiles at Israel and on commercial and military vessels Israeli forces have deployed ballistic missiles into the Red Sea and surrounding waters throughout the nine-month war, in solidarity with Hamas. But until Friday, all of the weapons fired at Israel had been intercepted either by Israel or its Western allies.
CBS News’ Tucker Reals and Eleanor Watson contributed to this report.
