Yemen’s Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV has reported that Israel launched a series of strikes on Hodeidah, shortly after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for people at three Yemeni ports.
The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson said late on Sunday that Israel will strike those areas due to military activities being conducted there.
In a statement, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee identified those places as the ports of Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif, as well as the Hodeidah power station.
Israel’s defence minister said Israel’s military has attacked Houthi targets at Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif as well as the Ras Qatib power station.
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The air strikes were in response to repeated attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthi group on Israel, the Israeli military said.
Earlier, crew members aboard a Liberian-flagged ship set ablaze by a series of attacks in the Red Sea abandoned the vessel after it took on water.
The attack marks the first serious assault in the vital corridor for trade after a months-long campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels there.
Suspicion for the attack on the Greek-owned bulk carrier Magic Seas immediately fell on the Houthis, particularly as a security firm said it appeared bomb-carrying drone boats hit the ship after it was targeted by small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
A renewed Houthi campaign against shipping could again draw in US and Western forces to the area, particularly after US president Donald Trump targeted the rebels in a major air strike campaign.
And it comes at a sensitive moment in the Middle East, as a possible ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war hangs in the balance and as Iran weighs whether to restart negotiations over its nuclear programme following US air strikes targeting its most-sensitive atomic sites amid an Israeli war against the Islamic Republic. - Agencies
