The Israeli army launched on Thursday afternoon one of its most intense bombings against Yemen since its conflict began last year with , the Shiite militia that has ruled for almost a decade about a third of the Arab country (an area in which where 70% of the population is concentrated), including its capital, Sanaa. Among the various targets attacked by Israeli aviation are the Sanaa international airport and three ports, as well as other public infrastructure. The offensive of the Jewish State comes after the Houthi forces directed three ballistic missiles against their territory during the last week, an act that they justify as a form of support for the people of Gaza in the face of the Israeli offensive and which already has more than 45,000 fatalities. . According to Yemeni Al Masirah television, which supports the Houthi forces, the attacks have caused at least three deaths and 11 injuries.
The Israeli attack could have painful consequences for the civilian population of a country that was already among the poorest in the region before the civil war that broke out in 2015. The bombs fell on several electricity production plants, such as those in Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib. Among the facilities attacked, there are also some military facilities, such as those present in the ports of Hodeida, Salif and Ras Kanatib. “This is a Zionist crime against all the Yemeni people,” reacted the militia spokesman, Mohamed Abdusalam.
Israel has justified the attacks. “We will continue to cut off the arm of terror of the Iranian axis of evil until we finish the mission,” declared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. To which he added that they will continue attacking the Yemeni rebels until “the job is completed”: “We have just started with them,” he said in an interview after the attack on the Israeli channel Channel 14. For his part, the Minister of Defense, Israel Katz threatened to “hunt down Houthi leaders,” and Israeli Air Force General Tomer Bar warned of the possibility of carrying out even more violent attacks. “We have already seen a tangible demonstration of what we are capable of, and we are capable of much more,” the latter said. However, Israeli threats and bombs deter the Houthis from continuing to periodically attack Israel. According to their leaders, they will only end the missile launch when the “aggression in Gaza” ends.
The attack on the Sanaa airport, which damaged a control tower, occurred while the director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was there, who was about to take a return flight from Sanaa. . “I, my colleagues at the UN and the WHO are fine,” declared Ghebreyesus, who had traveled to the Yemeni capital to negotiate the release of 13 workers from the international organization recently arrested by the Houthi authorities.
sponsored by Iran, along with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and several Shiite armed groups in Iraq. However, after the truce signed between Hezbollah and Israel a month ago to end the Israeli offensive on Lebanon, now the only pro-Iran militia engaged in an exchange of bombings and reprisals are the Houthis. Fundamentalist in nature, they have imposed a repressive regime on the Yemeni territory they control.
The Israeli bombardment comes a day after the Houthis fired a ballistic missile and two drones into Israel. In this case, Israeli air defenses were able to neutralize both the missile and the drones. However, the same thing did not happen last Saturday, injuring around twenty people. In a public statement, Israeli emergency services reported that the injuries were caused by “shards of glass from broken windows in nearby buildings” and were not serious.
Pressure against the US and its allies
The detention of the international WHO officials appears to be a measure of pressure against the US and its allies, who have also carried out attacks against targets linked to the Houthis in retaliation for their movement towards the Suez Canal. The move is also intended to put pressure on Western countries to force Israel to cease its military operations in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Egyptian Government, harassment by Houthi forces has caused traffic in the Suez Canal to decline by more than 65% over the past year, resulting in increased costs for global freight transport. Although the Houthis claim that they only target ships destined for Israeli ports, the reality is that ships destined for other destinations have also been attacked.
Humanitarian aid provided by UN agencies is essential for the survival of a large part of Yemenis. According to calculations by the World Food Programme,. Although there has been no violent outbreak for months between the various factions fighting in the civil war, the peace negotiations sponsored by the UN have completely stalled.
