IDF strikes Houthi port again: ‘Yemen will suffer the same fate as Tehran’, warns DM Katz

For the twelfth time since the start of the war, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) struck targets of the Houthi terror group in Yemen, roughly 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Israel's border, on Monday.

Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) hit terror targets “in the Port of Hodeidah, forcefully enforcing the policy against any attempt to rebuild terror infrastructure previously attacked.”

“As I have made clear – Yemen will suffer the same fate as Tehran,” Katz stressed.

“The Houthis will pay a heavy price for launching missiles toward the State of Israel. We will continue to act at any time and in any place to defend the State of Israel.”

According to the military, this time the strikes also targeted equipment used to rebuild and rehabilitate the damage from the previous strikes.

Among the targets were “engineering vehicles used to reestablish the port's infrastructure, fuel containers, naval vessels used for military activities and attacks against the State of Israel, vessels in the maritime zone adjacent to the port, and additional terror infrastructure used by the Houthi terrorist regime,” the IDF said.

The Houthis and their Iranian patrons used the port “to transfer weapons from the Iranian regime, which are then used by the Houthi terrorist regime to execute terrorist attacks against the State of Israel and its allies,” the military said.

“The IDF has identified the continuous efforts and actions of the Houthi terrorist regime to reestablish terrorist infrastructure at the port, and as such, the components used to advance these efforts were struck.”

“The Houthi terrorist regime exploits the maritime zone for the use of force and to carry out terrorist attacks against passing vessels and global maritime trade,” the IDF stated.

Army Radio later reported that the strikes were carried out by IDF drones, and not by fighter jets. This was the second time the IDF didn't use fighter jets while striking the Houthis, after navy ships were used the last time.

Despite the repeated Israeli strikes, as well as major operations by the U.S. and allied nations, the Houthis have persisted in firing ballistic missiles and drones at Israel.

Since the last Israeli strikes some two weeks ago, the terrorists have launched six missiles and two drones at Israel, which were either intercepted or crashed outside of Israel.

The last missile attack occurred late on Friday evening, triggering alarm sirens across central Israel, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the political bureau of the Houthis vowed that the Israeli attacks would "not affect the will of the Yemeni people" to continue supporting the Palestinians in Gaza, in comments to the Al-Arabi channel.

He added that the U.S. and the West could stop the war by applying pressure on Israel to stop the "crimes of mass destruction in Gaza."