Israeli defense system downs Yemeni missile day after IDF airstrikes on Houthis

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen early Sunday, hours after Israeli warplanes struck several Houthi targets in the Arabian Peninsula country.

The Israeli airstrikes — in response to a deadly Houthi drone strike on Tel Aviv — were the first time Israel is known to have responded to repeated Houthi terrorist attacks throughout its nine-month war against Hamas. The burst of violence between the distant enemies has threatened to open a new front as Israel battles a series of Iranian proxies across the region.

The Israeli army late Saturday confirmed the airstrikes in the western Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, a Houthi stronghold and crucial entry point for aid and other supplies. It said the strikes, carried out by dozens of aircraft, including U.S.-made F-15 and F-35 warplanes, were a response to hundreds of Houthi attacks.

The Israeli military said that the surface-to-surface missile fired Sunday was intercepted before reaching Israeli territory.

Israel, along with the United States, U.K. and other Western allies with forces in the region, have intercepted almost all of the Houthi missiles and drones. But early Friday, a Houthi drone penetrated Israel’s air defenses and crashed into Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial and cultural capital, killing one person.

An Israeli air force official said Sunday that human error accidentally classified the drone as a nonthreat as Israel was simultaneously tracking other drones launched from Yemen and approaching Israel from the east.

The Israeli military said Saturday’s strike on Hodeidah, more than 1,000 miles from Israel, was among the most complicated and longest-distance operations by its air force. It said it hit the port because the area is used to deliver Iranian arms to Yemen.

Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, vowed to carry out similar strikes “in any place where it may be required.”

The Houthis are among several Iranian-backed groups to have attacked Israel in solidarity with Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian terrorist group triggered the ongoing war.

In addition to fighting Hamas, the Israeli military has been engaged in daily clashes with the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon. These clashes have raised concerns that the fighting could spill over into a full-blown war with Lebanon and beyond.

Yemen has been engulfed in civil war since 2014, when the Houthis seized much of the north and forced the internationally recognized government to flee from Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of government forces, and in time the conflict turned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The war has killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.