Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have waded into the war against Israel after firing missiles and drones at the country over the Red Sea earlier today.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have entered the war with Israel after it launched drones and missiles at the south of the country earlier today.
The Houthis are part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” and have rallied behind Hamas since the October 7 attacks. They have been at war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government since 2014 and control the capital city of Sana’a.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group launched a “large number” of missiles and drones toward Israel and that it would continue to attack “to help the Palestinians to victory”. While the Houthis have launched missiles at Israel since Tel Aviv declared war on Hamas, this is the first time the group has publicly claimed credit for the attacks.
Speaking of an attack launched earlier today, Saree said: “The Yemeni Armed Forces confirm that this operation is the third operation in support of our oppressed brothers in Palestine and confirm that we will continue to carry out more qualitative strikes with missiles and drones until the Israeli aggression stops.”
The televised statement confirmed fears that the conflict could spread regionally with various Iranian-backed regional actors joining the fray as Israel attempts to destroy Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Tuesday’s attack saw the Arrow missile defense system used for the first time in the conflict. The system is intended to take out long-range ballistic missiles as opposed to smaller ballistic rockets often launchedby Hamas from Gaza.
The IDF said of the attack: “All aerial threats were intercepted outside of Israeli territory. No infiltrations were identified into Israeli territory.”
It’s unclear how Israel will respond to the announcement of continued Houthi attacks. Israeli national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi called the attempted strikes “intolerable” without elaborating.
The Houthis’ slogan is: “Death to America, death to Israel, curse the Jews and victory to Islam.”
EXPRESS.CO.UK.
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