Jerusalem:
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had struck several Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, including power plants and a seaport, using dozens of aircraft.
The strikes came a day after the Iran-backed rebel group said it had attacked Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport with a missile.
“In a large-scale air operation today, dozens of air force aircraft, including fighter jets, refueling aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft, attacked military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the Ras Issa and Hodeidah areas of Yemen,” a military spokesman said. Captain David Abraham said in a statement to AFP.
“The Defense Forces (Military) Defense Agency targeted power plants and a seaport used for oil imports,” a military statement said.
In July, Israel also struck the port of Hodeidah, causing at least $20 million in damage, according to a port official, after a Houthi drone penetrated Israel’s air defenses and killed a civilian in Tel Aviv.
The sites attacked on Sunday were used by the Houthis, who seized the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014, to “transfer Iranian weapons to the region and military supplies,” the statement said.
“The strike was carried out in response to recent attacks by the Houthi regime against the State of Israel,” it added, after rebels said they tried to hit Ben Gurion as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived from New York.
The Houthi-controlled Al-Masira station said on Sunday that the Israeli strikes targeted “the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Issa” as well as two power plants, after previously announcing “Israeli aggression against Hodeidah”.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and was published by a syndicated channel.)
