Israel has carried out air strikes on the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port of Hodeidah in Yemen, a day after a drone launched by the group attacked Tel Aviv.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said his country wanted to send a message to the Houthi movement.
“The fire that is burning in Hodeidah is now spreading across the Middle East and its significance is clear,” he said.
Houthi-affiliated news agencies said three people were killed and more than 80 wounded in air strikes on Saturday, in what Houthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam called a “brutal Israeli invasion of Yemen”.
Early Sunday, the Israeli military said it shot down a missile fired from Yemen before it entered Israeli airspace.
The report added that air raid sirens were activated in the Israeli Red Sea port of Eilat “following possible shrapnel”.
Mr Abdulsalam said the Israeli air strikes were aimed at pressuring the Houthis to stop supporting Palestinians in Gaza, something he said would not happen.
It was the first time Israel has responded directly to what it says are hundreds of Yemeni drone and missile attacks on its territory in recent months.
Footage from Hodeidah showed large fires breaking out on Saturday evening. The Houthi-run government in Sanaa said Israel had attacked oil storage facilities near the coast, as well as a nearby power plant.
In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said: “After nine months of continuous aerial attacks by the Houthis in Yemen against Israel, the IAF [Israeli Air Force] Warplanes conducted a large-scale strike 1,800km[1,118 miles]away against “Houthi terrorist military targets” in the port of Hodeidah[1118dặm)nhằmvàocácmụctiêuquânsựkhủngbốHouthi”ởkhuvựccảngHodeidah[1118miles)awayagainstHouthiterroristmilitarytargets”intheareaoftheportofHodeidah
“The IDF is capable of operating wherever necessary and will strike any force that poses a danger to Israelis,” the statement said, adding that Saturday’s operation was codenamed Outstretched Arm.
Mr Gallant said Israeli jets attacked the group because they were harming Israelis.
“The Houthis have attacked us more than 200 times. The first time they harmed an Israeli citizen, we attacked them. And we will do this wherever necessary,” he said.
Speaking on Saturday evening after the attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country would defend itself “by all means”.
“Whoever harms us will pay a heavy price for their aggression,” he said in a televised speech, claiming the port was an entry point for Iranian weapons.
He also said this shows Israel’s enemies that there is no place it cannot reach.
On Friday An apartment building in Tel Aviv was attacked. An Israeli military official said it was an Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that had been modified to be able to fly long distances.
The Houthis said they carried out that attack and vowed to carry out more.
The attack killed a 50-year-old man who had recently moved to Israel from Belarus and injured eight others.
Israeli military officials said their defense forces detected the incoming drone but did not attempt to shoot it down due to “human error.”
Previously, most of the Houthi missiles and drones fired towards Israel were intercepted and none reached Tel Aviv.
The Houthi Supreme Political Council, the movement’s executive body, was quoted by Houthi-run media on Saturday evening as saying there would be an “effective response” to the airstrikes.
Although Israel has not previously attacked Houthi forces in Yemen, the United States and Britain have been conducting airstrikes against the group for months to try to stop the Houthis from attacking commercial ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.
The Houthis initially said they attack on ships linked to Israelor heading to or from there. However, many of the ships have no connection to Israel, and since the airstrikes began, the group has also targeted ships with connections to the UK and the US.
