Israeli warplanes struck the Huthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeida on Saturday, a day after a drone attack by the group killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, both sides said.
The strikes, which triggered a raging fire and plumes of black smoke, are the first claimed by Israel in the Arabian peninsula’s poorest country, some 2,000 kilometres (1,300 miles) away, analysts said.
“The blood of Israeli citizens has a price,” Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said, adding more operations against the Huthis would follow “if they dare to attack us”.
Gallant said the Hodeida strikes were also a warning to other Iran-backed armed groups around the Middle East that have claimed attacks on Israel during the Gaza war.
“The fire that is currently burning in Hodeida, is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed the warning in a televised address. “Anyone who harms us will pay a very heavy price for their aggression,” he said.
Just hours after Friday’s strike in Tel Aviv, Gallant had vowed Israel would retaliate against the Huthis, who control swathes of Yemen, including much of its Red Sea coast.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said F-15 jets carried out the strike and all returned safely to base.
Rear Admiral Hagari accused the Huthis of using Hodeida “as a main supply route for the transfer of Iranian weapons... like the (drone) that was used in the attack on Friday.”
In a statement on social media, top Huthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam reported a “brutal Israel aggression against Yemen”.
The attack targeted “fuel storage facilities and a power plant” in Hodeida “to pressure Yemen to stop supporting” Palestinians in the Gaza war, he said.
The Huthi-run health ministry said at least 80 people were wounded in the Israeli strikes, most of them with severe burns. It did not immediately report any deaths.
An AFP correspondent in Hodeida reported hearing several large explosions and seeing smoke over the port.
Footage aired by the rebels’ Al-Masirah television, which AFP could not independently verify, showed casualties being treated in hospital, many of them bandaged and lying on stretchers in packed rooms.
A man interviewed by the broadcaster said many of the wounded were port employees.
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