Israel Strikes Yemen

 And now another war front has possibly opened up.  How can tiny Israel possibly fight off all these crazy Muslims, hell-bent on killing all the Jews and wiping the name of Israel from the map?

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Israeli fighter jets conducted an air strike in Yemen on Saturday in retaliation for the Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv last Thursday, U.S. and Israeli officials said.

Why it matters: This is the first time that Israel has directly attacked Yemen, a country more than 1,000 miles away.

• The Houthis, an Islamist militant group backed by Iran, have harassed and attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea for months in response to Israel's war in Gaza.
• Houthi officials said the Israeli strike hit oil facilities in the port of Hodeidah, which is controlled by the rebel group. 
• The Saudi television channel al-Hadath reported three people were killed and 15 wounded in the Israeli strike.

Behind the scenes: Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant spoke to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday and told him Israel was likely to respond to the Houthi attack, which killed one Israeli and wounded several others, a U.S. official said.

• Israeli and U.S. military officials spoke several times on Saturday ahead of the strike, the official said.
• An Israeli official confirmed the strike and said it was conducted in coordination with the U.S. and an international coalition formed to counter Houthi attacks.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the security cabinet on Saturday to approve the strike — a highly unusual meeting, with many religiously observant ministers arriving on the Sabbath.

What they're saying: A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement: "IDF warplanes recently attacked military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the Hodeida port area in Yemen, in response to the hundreds of attacks against the State of Israel in recent months."

• The Houthis claimed in a statement that the Israeli strike targeted civilian facilities, oil tanks and the electricity station in Hodeidah. "The aim was pressuring Yemen to stop supporting Gaza, which is a dream that will not come true. This will only increase the determination of the Yemeni people and their armed forces to support Gaza," the Houthis said.
• Gallant said in a statement: "The fire that is currently burning in Yemen, is seen across the Middle East. The first time that the Houthis harmed an Israeli citizen, we struck them. And we will do this in any place where it may be required."

Between the lines: A senior Israeli official said the strike in Yemen was a purely Israeli action. 

• "This was a targeted operation at the port of Hodeida. We carried out the strike after many months of restraint in the face of Houthi attacks that included the firing of dozens of items, including surface-to-surface missiles," the official said.
• "Israel will act everywhere to protect its citizens and its sovereignty."

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/20/israel-yemen-houthis-tel-aviv-drone