Israel’s military says it has hit Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the group’s missile launch at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport the previous day.
The IDF said it attacked sites that it claimed served as a “central supply source for the Houthis” in the Hudaydah Port, as well as the Bajil cement factory east of the city of Hudaydah.
Following Sunday’s airport strike, the Houthis said they would impose “a comprehensive aerial blockade” on Israel by targeting airports in response to Israel’s plans to expand operations in Gaza.
The Iran-backed group reported 21 people were killed in Monday’s attack, and described it as a joint raid of “US-Israeli aggression”. The US denied involvement.
The IDF said its Monday strikes were “conducted precisely, with measures taken to mitigate harm to vessels docked at the port”.
It claimed the Bajil factory functioned as a “significant economic resource”, and was used by the group to construct tunnels and infrastructure, while the port sites were used “for the transfer of Iranian weapons”.
The port is the second-largest in the Red Sea after Aden, and is the entry point for about 80% of Yemen’s food imports.
Multiple residents told Reuters news agency that more than 10 strikes targeted Hudaydah Port and the al-Salakhanah and al-Hawak areas in the city, while four more targeted the cement factory.
A spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry, Anees al-Asbahi, said at least 21 people were killed in the attack.
The Houthis blamed the US and Israel jointly for the attack. A US defence official told the AFP news agency that their forces “did not participate in the Israeli strikes on Yemen today”.
Former US president Joe Biden’s administration approved US strikes on the Houthis, which has continued under Donald Trump, the current president.
Last month, the Houthis said at least 68 African migrants were killed in a US air strike on a detention centre in north-western Yemen.
The attack on Ben Gurion airport on Sunday morning landed near the main terminal. Four people were injured by the blast, with another two injured on their way to a shelter, Israeli emergency services said.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, threatened retaliation, saying: “We attacked in the past, we will attack in the future.”
On social media, he also warned that Israel would respond to Iran at “a time and place of our choosing”.
Iran said the airport attack was and “independent decision” by the Yemeni group.
