At least three persons were killed and around 87 injured after Israeli airstrikes on oil facilities in Yemen’s west coast, a day after Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone attack on Israel’s Tel Aviv, in which one person died.
Giving news of the Israeli airstroke, the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said most of the injured suffered “severe burns,” news agencies report.
Fighter jets struck “military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime” in Yemen’s Hodeidah Port on Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Officials said this was the first time that Israel had struck Yemen.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reported by CNN as saying that the country’s airstrike was a direct response to the death of its 50-year-old citizen in the drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday.
In a statement on Saturday, Netanyahu said Hodeidah was “not an innocent port,” and was used for military purposes.
Deadly weapons were supplied to the Houthis by Iran through this entry point and Hodeidah had also been used to attack international shipping in the Red Sea, Netanyahu added.
The airstrikes, which hit targets 1,800 km from Israel’s borders was a message to enemies that Israel was serious about responding to threats.
“There is no place that the long arm of the state of Israel will not reach,” Netanyahu said.
Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam said the strikes had also hit a power station and civilian targets.
Lashing out at the alleged “brutal Israeli aggression,” he said it was aimed at increasing the “suffering of the people of Yemen” and forcing it to stop supporting Gaza.
Another Houthi spokesperson warned that Tel Aviv was not safe and that Houthis could strike Israel’s vital targets.
Spokesperson for the Houthi army Yehya Saree said they were preparing for a long war until the aggression stopped and blockade on the Palestinian people was lifted.
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