‘No Place Is Too Far’: Israel Strikes Houthis In Yemen After Targeting Hezbollah In Lebanon – News18

Two days after killing more than 20 Hezbollah members, including their chief Hassan Nasrallah, the Israeli military announced on Sunday that it struck several Houthi rebel targets in Yemen using fighter jets.

The Israel Air Force deployed dozens of aircraft to strike military Houthi targets 1,800 km away from the country in the Ras Isa and Hudaydah regions of Yemen. The Israeli military said these strikes were carried out in response to recent Houthi attacks against Israel.

‘No place is too far’

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel would strike at foes no matter the distance, after the military targeted Houthi rebels in Yemen. “Our message is clear — for us, no place is too far,” Gallant said in a statement issued by his office after he monitored the strikes from an air force command and control room about 2,000 kilometres from Yemen.

The targets also included power plants and a seaport used for oil imports, which the Houthis used to transfer Iranian weapons and military supplies to the region, the Israeli military said. It said that the Israeli intelligence unit selected targets based on locations where Iran has supplied weapons to the Houthis, often mixing civilian areas with military sites to justify attacks on Israel.

The IDF noted that the Houthis have been targeting Israel throughout the year, not just in the past month. Over the last year, the Houthis launched numerous ballistic missiles and drones at Israel, The Jerusalem Post reported. On Saturday, a missile attack prompted sirens across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv. Both Houthis and Hezbollah are part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, which also supports Hamas, the group Israel has been fighting in Gaza since October 7 of last year.

‘More than 20 other terrorists’

Israel’s military assault on Houthis came days after it killed “more than 20 other terrorists” during Friday’s air strike in Beirut. Israeli air strikes have decimated Hezbollah’s senior command structure, with Nasrallah’s right-hand man Fuad Shukr, head of the elite Radwan Force Ibrahim Aqil and others among the dead.

A Hezbollah statement on Sunday confirmed that the group’s top commander in south Lebanon, Ali Karake, had also been killed on Friday. The past week’s waves of strikes targeting Hezbollah have intensified fears in Lebanon and the wider region of more violence to come.

Hezbollah launched low-intensity cross-border strikes on Israeli troops after its Palestinian ally Hamas staged its unprecedented attack on Israel last October 7, sparking war with Israel in the Gaza Strip. Almost a year later, Israel announced a shift in its focus to battling Hezbollah on its northern front.

(With agency inputs)