On Saturday, July 20, an Israeli warplane bombed the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, which is in the hands of Houthi rebels, causing a huge fire, a day after the pro-Iranian movement killed one person in Tel-Aviv.

According to experts, these are the first strikes announced by the Jewish state in Yemen, some 1,800 km away. The Houthis, who say they are acting in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, have been carrying out attacks on ships allegedly linked to Israel for eight months and have fired missiles at Israelis off the coast of Yemen. Most of them were intercepted. However, the drone launched on Friday escaped air defense.

“I have a message for Israel’s enemies: make no mistake. Let us defend ourselves by all means and on all fronts. Anyone who attacks us will pay a heavy price.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the pledge in a televised address. “The blood of the citizens of Israel has a price. “The fire raging in Hodeidah is visible throughout the Middle East, and its significance is clear.”His defense minister Yoav Gallant said.

The Israeli army announced that “Fighter [avaient] In response to hundreds of strikes against Israel, it bombed Houthi terrorist regime military targets in the Hodeidah port area.. This port, in the west of the country, is particularly essential for humanitarian aid, a “Main supply route for Iranian weapons from Iran to Yemen begins with drone used in attack” From Tel Aviv, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari assured.

The Israeli bombings injured 80 people, most of them wounded “Severe Burns”According to the Houthi Ministry of Health. “The Zionist establishment will pay the price for its strikes against civilian installations, and we will respond to further escalation.”Transportation On that day Mohammed al-Buqaidi is a member of the Houthis’ politburo, which controls large parts of Yemen, including Hodeidah in the west.

turning point “dangerous”

The movement’s spokesman, Mohammed Abdelsalam, said the Israeli army carried out the bombing “Fuel Storage Facilities and a Power Station” Supplying Hodeida “To pressure Yemen to stop supporting” Palestinians. “We will respond to this aggression (…) We will not hesitate to attack key targets of the Israeli enemy.Yahya Sari, the rebels’ military spokesman, also warned.

Al-Masira, a Houthi television station, broadcast images of the injured being treated at a hospital. An interviewee told the channel that many of the injured were port workers.

The explosions caused a huge fire in the port, from which black smoke rose, images from al-Masira. “Civil defense and firemen try to put out fire burning in oil tanks”she says. “The city is in darkness, people are on the streets, queues have formed at closed petrol stations”A resident reports.

The Houthis have launched attacks on merchant ships linked to the Hebrew state in the Red Sea and the Gulf, a month after the war in the Gaza Strip, sparked by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, began. Aden, sea areas essential to world trade.

In December, the US set up a multinational force to protect navigation in the strategic area and, with London’s help, has carried out numerous bombings in Yemen since January. “We fully recognize Israel’s right to self-defense.”According to a spokesman for the US National Security Council, the US, Israel’s allies, “not involved in bombing” of Hodeida.

The port is a key entry point for fuel and cargo to rebel-held areas of Yemen. For Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which opened a front against Israel after the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli offensive in Yemen marks a turning point. “Dangerous in Conflict”.