At least one person was killed and 35 more wounded after a wave of Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen’s Red Sea province of Hodeida, according to the area’s Houthi-run health ministry.
The strikes came a day after the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels launched a missile that hit Israel’s main airport.
On Sunday, the Houthis launched a missile from Yemen that struck an access road near Israel’s main airport, injuring four people. This is the first time a missile has hit the grounds of Israel’s airport since the start of the war.
The rebels’ media office said at least six strikes hit the crucial Hodeida port on Monday afternoon, while other strikes hit a cement factory in the Bajil district, located 55 kilometres northeast of Hodeida city. The extent of damage at the two facilities wasn’t immediately clear.
The Israeli military said more than 20 Israeli fighter planes took part in the operation, dropping more than 50 munitions on dozens of targets.
It said that it targeted the Hodeida port because Houthi rebels were using it to receive weapons and military equipment from Iran.
Hodeida residents said they heard explosions at the port, with flames and smoke seen rising over the area and ambulance sirens heard across the city.
The Houthis claimed that Monday’s strikes were a joint Israeli-American operation. While a US defence official said US forces did not participate in the Israeli strikes, the US military did launch separate strikes on Sanaa, another official said, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Nasruddin Amer, head of the Houthi media office, said the Israeli strikes won’t deter the rebels, vowing they will respond to the attack.
“The aggressive Zionist-American raids on civilian facilities will not affect our military operations against the Zionist enemy entity,” he said on social media.
He said the Houthis will escalate their attacks and won’t stop targeting shipping routes and Israel until the latter stops its military attacks on Gaza.
Houthi rebels have fired at Israel since the war with Hamas began on 7 October 2023. The missiles have mostly been intercepted, although some have penetrated Israel’s missile defence systems, causing damage.
Israel has struck back multiple times against the rebels in Yemen. The US military under President Donald Trump has launched an intensified campaign of daily airstrikes targeting the Houthis since 15 March.