A handout picture obtained from Yemen's Ansarullah Media Center show a huge column of fire erupting following reported strikes in the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah on July 20, 2024. Photo: AFP.
Israeli warplanes have carried out airstrikes against Yemen’s strategic western province of Hudaydah, following the regime’s threats to retaliate an earlier drone strike by Yemeni armed forces against the occupying entity.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that Israeli fighter jets attacked military targets in Hudaydah. He said the airstrikes were in response to the hundreds of attacks against Israel in recent months.
It was the first time the Israeli regime has publicly attacked Yemen in months of escalating tensions.
Yemen’s al-Masirah television network reported on Saturday that the attack targeted fuel storage facilities in the port city, igniting a fire in the area.
The port contains oil export facilities, but is also a vital conduit for civilian goods and humanitarian aid to Yemen.
The television network also reported that the Israeli strikes killed a number of people, without specifying the exact number of casualties.
Mohammed Abdulsalam, the spokesman for Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, also said in a statement on X that “A brutal Israeli aggression has targeted civilian buildings, oil facilities and power station in Hudaydah, aiming at pressuring Yemen to stop supporting Gaza, but the attack will only increase our determination, steadfastness, continuity.”
An Israeli official also confirmed the strike, saying it was conducted in coordination with the United States and in response to hundreds of attacks carried out against Israel in recent months.
The United States and Britain have struck hundreds of targets in Yemen since November and have been sharing intelligence with the Israeli regime for months.
The latest aggression came a day after the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a drone strike on Tel Aviv in response to the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Tel Aviv ‘No Longer a Safe Zone’, Yemen Says After Launching Radar-Evading Drone
The drone hit an area near a US consular facility in Tel Aviv early on Friday, killing one person and injuring 10 others as the Israeli air defenses failed to intercept the drone.
Ansarullah has already said it was “prepared for any Israeli response” to the strike.
Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7.
Yemeni Armed Forces have said that they won’t stop their attacks until Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza, which have killed at least 38,919 people and wounded another 89,459 individuals, come to an end.
(PressTV)
