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The Israeli military intercepted a missile fired from Yemen, hours after Israel bombed Houthi-controlled civilian sites in the war-torn country, including the airport in the capital Sanaa.
Israel's wave of air strikes on Thursday – its largest to date on Yemen, more than 2,000km away – was said to be in response to Houthi missile attacks on Tel Aviv that caused dozens of injuries in recent days.
The rebels have vowed to continue attacking Israel – and ships in the Red Sea they say have ties to the Israelis – until there is a ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 45,000 people have been killed by Israel's strikes and ground offensive since October last year.
Israel's strikes and ground offensive followed a Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 abducted.
The Houthis said they fired the missile, aimed at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, and had launched drones towards Tel Aviv and a ship in the Arabian Sea. The militants said Israeli "aggression will only increase the determination and resolve of the great Yemeni people to continue supporting the Palestinian people".
The Houthis remain the last significant Iran-backed regional front against Israel, following Hezbollah's ceasefire in Lebanon in November, after sustaining heavy losses, along with the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria this month and Iranian forces withdrawing from there.
“A missile fired from Yemen was intercepted before it penetrated Israeli airspace. Alarms were activated in central Israel for fear of falling shrapnel from the interception,” the Israeli army said on Friday morning.
Hours earlier, Israeli warplanes had bombed the airport in Sanaa, as well as a military airbase, power stations and port facilities on west coast areas controlled by the Houthis.
According to the rebels, the strikes on Sanaa International Airport killed three people and injured 30. World Health Organisation director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was at the airport at the time of the Israeli attack. In strikes on the western city of Hodeidah, three people were killed and 10 injured.
Airport authorities said flights would resume at Sanaa International Airport on Friday, despite damage caused by the strikes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Channel 14 that Israel was only at the beginning of its campaign against the Houthis. “We are just getting started with them,” he said.
Mr Netanyahu has been strengthened at home by the Israeli military's campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and by its destruction of most of the Syrian army's strategic weapons.
Along with Hezbollah in Lebanon and armed groups in Iraq, the Houthis form part of the so-called “Axis of Resistance”, an anti-Israel political and military coalition in the Middle East led by Tehran.
The rebels control Sanaa and other regions in the north and west. They have strengthened their fighting capabilities since civil war broke out in the country in 2014, posing a serious threat to Yemen's neighbours and shipping lanes.
Most of the group's weapons had been based on Iranian designs or entirely Iranian in origin, renamed in Houthi service. However, the rebels have reportedly become more self-sufficient in developing their armoury and no longer require significant help from Tehran.
The US, Britain and Israel have launched air strikes against Houthi sites in recent months, but these haven’t hampered their ability to launch attacks in the Red Sea and against Israeli targets.
“Our attacks will continue, and we won’t stop until the genocide in Gaza ends,” said Houthis political official Mohammed Al Bukhaiti following recent Israeli strikes.
The emergence of the Houthis as an unpredictable challenge to Israel and the shipping route has allowed them to play a larger role and evolve into a regional military player, which, in their opinion, could strengthen their position when negotiating a settlement for the war in Yemen.
Earlier this month, US special envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking warned that even if the rebels pause their attacks – however this is achieved – “we still have a long-term Houthi-Red Sea problem”.
