Houthis Vow To Escalate Attacks On Israel Amid Intensified Air Strikes.
A senior Houthi official has declared that the group will continue launching attacks on Israel in solidarity with Palestinians, despite escalating Israeli air strikes in Yemen. Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, speaking to the BBC, stated that the Houthis would “escalate our military targeting of Israel” until what he described as “the genocide in Gaza” is halted.
The statement follows a series of Israeli air strikes on Thursday targeting Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, as well as ports and power stations along the Red Sea coast. The attacks resulted in at least four fatalities. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s actions in response to over a year of missile and drone attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis were “just getting started.”
Overnight, the Houthis launched a ballistic missile at Israel, which was intercepted by Israel’s military before reaching its target. Since October 2023, the group has been attacking Israel and international shipping in support of Palestinians following the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
The United Nations secretary general expressed deep concern over the intensifying conflict, calling the strikes on Yemen’s airport and ports “especially alarming” and warning of their potential to severely disrupt humanitarian efforts in the region.
The Houthis, who control north-western Yemen, have faced repeated Israeli air strikes since July. Israel claims to have intercepted most of the 400 missiles and drones launched by the group. The United States and the United Kingdom have also conducted air strikes in Yemen, responding to Houthi attacks on merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
As tensions rise, the escalating conflict poses significant risks to regional stability and humanitarian operations in Yemen, a country already enduring the devastating impact of prolonged war.
