Houthis strike at Israel in co-ordination with Iran

Attack is the first by a Tehran-backed group since start of Israeli strikes on Iran on Friday

A Houthi soldier mans a machine gun mounted on a vehicle while on patrol during an anti-US and anti-Israel protest in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday. EPA

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Yemen’s Houthi rebels said on Sunday they had launched missiles at Israel in co-ordination with Iran, in the first acknowledged military action in support of Tehran by one of its regional proxies since the start of Israeli attacks on Iran on Friday.

Houthi troops targeted Tel Aviv with several ballistic missiles in the previous 24 hours, the militia's military spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Saree said in an announcement reported by the rebel-aligned Saba news agency.

“Triumphing for the oppressed Palestinian and Iranian peoples … This operation was co-ordinated with the operations carried out by the Iranian army against the criminal Israeli enemy,” he said.

The operation was successful, he said, without offering details.

Israel launched its biggest military strike against Iran on Friday, prompting Iran to respond with drones and then salvos of ballistic missiles.

The Houthis “salute Iran, its people, army, and leadership, as they bravely, willfully, resolutely, and faithfully confront the brutal Zionist aggression”, Brig Gen Saree said.

Israel said on Friday that a missile launched from Yemen fell in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The Houthis, however, did not claim responsibility for that attack.

The Houthis have no choice but to get involved in the attacks, said Baraa Shibana, a Yemen expert at the RUSI think tank.

"Israel is no longer constrained by distance or US optics in the region, so they know Israel will hit the Houthis next," Mr Shiban told The National.

"In other words, they feel this is a battle of survival. For the axis as a whole and for the Houthis as a group," he said.

The rebel group's capabilities are "Iranian capabilities that were meant to prevent Tehran from engaging with Israel directly."

The region is braced for a protracted conflict after Israel's surprise bombardment of Iran's nuclear and military sites on Friday killed several top generals and nuclear scientists. Iran responded by launching hundreds of ballistic missiles at Iran, and neither side has showed any sign of backing down.

The Houthis, along with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon, began launching drone and missile attacks on Israel after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.

Hezbollah was once considered Iran's first line of defence against Israeli attacks, but Israel's retaliatory strikes against the group last year killed its political and military leaders and largely destroyed its arsenal. Lebanese officials have urged Hezbollah not to respond to the Israeli attacks on Iran and the group has assured them it would not, security sources told The National on Saturday.

Iran-backed groups in Iraq, who also launched attacks on Israel over the war in Gaza, have responded to the attacks on Iran by calling for the accelerated the departure of US troops from the country, with the powerful Kataeb Hezbollah warning of “additional wars in the region”.

Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes on Houthi-held areas in Yemen in recent months. The group also faced near-daily US strikes since mid-March, until US President Donald Trump halted the offensive after the Houthis agreed to stop attacks on American ships.