Reuters, AFP, AP and Sputnik
The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, July 21, 2024, p. 24
Jerusalem. Israeli aircraft bombed the strategic port of Hodeida, a Yemeni city controlled by Houthi rebels, yesterday, with a preliminary death toll of two and at least 80 wounded, a day after a drone attack in Tel Aviv claimed by these insurgents that left one dead and 10 wounded in Tel Aviv.
According to experts, these are the first attacks announced by Israel against Yemen, a country at war partially controlled by the Houthis, supported by Iran and allies of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas – at war with the Israeli state in the Gaza Strip since October.
For months, the Houthis have been carrying out attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden against ships linked to Israel, in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, and have launched missiles at Israeli cities, although most have been shot down.
But on Friday, a Houthi drone attack left one person dead in Tel Aviv after bypassing the anti-aircraft defence system. I have a message for Israel’s enemies: We will defend ourselves by all means, on all fronts. Anyone who attacks us will pay a very high price.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address following the attacks in Yemen.
The blood of Israeli citizens has a pricesaid Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The fire burning in Hodeida is visible across the Middle East, and its significance is clear.
The Israeli army said its Fighter jets hit military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the Hodeida port regionin western Yemen.
This port, essential especially for humanitarian aid, serves as main supply route for weapons from Iran to Yemen, such as the drone used in the Tel Aviv attackaccused army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
For its part, the armed organization of the Houthi movement asserted that Tel Aviv pay to for having bombed the Yemeni port city. Mohamed al Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi politburo, said that Israel will pay for attacking civilian facilities, and we will respond to escalation with escalation.
We will not hesitate to attack vital targets of the Israeli enemy.threatened Yahya Saree, military spokesman for the insurgents. The rebel-run Ministry of Health said the attacks left 80 injured, most of them with serious burns.
They cause chaos in the city
According to Mohamed Abdelsalam, a senior Houthi commander, the attack was aimed at fuel depots and a power station which supplies electricity to Hodeida, to pressure Yemen to stop supporting to the Palestinians.
▲ A column of fire and thick smoke rose yesterday following Israeli attacks on the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, which claims to have destroyed a fuel depot and a power station, both civilian infrastructure.Afp Photo
Rebel-run Al Masirah television broadcast images of Yemenis allegedly being treated in hospitals after the attacks, several of them bandaged and lying on stretchers.
A man interviewed by the network said that many of the injured were employees of the port, where images show the attacks caused a huge fire that spread and generated an impressive column of black smoke. Civil protection teams and firefighters are trying to put out the fire burning in the port’s oil tanksAl Masirah said.
A Hodeida resident said: The city is dark, people are on the streets and queues have formed at the gas stations, which have closed..
For its part, the White House confirmed that President Joe Biden was informed of the events and assured that the United States did not coordinate the air strikes with Israel, but that it fully recognizes Israel’s right to self-defense.
In December, Washington created a multinational force to protect ships, especially merchant ships, from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, a strategic area for global trade, and has launched numerous attacks against the insurgents in Yemen since January, with the help of the United Kingdom.
Iran’s foreign ministry warned that the attack on Yemen It reveals the aggressive and child-murdering nature of the Israeli regime and raises the risk of escalation of tensions due to Zionist adventurism.Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani was quoted as saying by official Iranian media, Infobae reported.
He also asserted that those who support Israel, such as the United States, are also complicit. responsible for the dangerous and unpredictable consequences of the crimes in Gaza and the attacks on Yemen.
Against Hezbollah
At press time, three security sources reported that Israel attacked late yesterday an ammunition depot of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in the town of Adloun, 40 km north of the Lebanese border with Israel, where at least four civilians were wounded, they told Reuters.