Houthis warn that they will intensify military operations in response to Israeli attacks

Houthis Of yemen He said on Monday that they will intensify military operations against israel The attack came a day after Israeli strikes against Houthi positions, in response to their attacks on the country, left five people dead and 57 wounded, according to a spokesman for the Yemeni group.

Israeli army launched “Large scale” operation against the Houthis in the port city of Al Hodeidawest of yemenA day after Shia rebels claimed responsibility for launching a ballistic missile against Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

The Israeli military said in a statement that “dozens of air force aircraft, including fighters and refueling and intelligence aircraft, They attacked military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime in the areas of Ras Issa and Al Hodeida in Yemen“, where they aimed “Power plants and ports, used to import oil.”

Separately, Houthi rebels on Monday claimed to have killed another MQ-9 Reaper drone American-made on the country, and in the video you can allegedly see a surface-to-air missile. The US military admitted that it had lost a drone.

The alleged attack comes as the first anniversary of the war between Israel and hamas terrorist group In Gaza StripHouthis have attacked ships traveling red sea When air strikes were led during the war usa He attacked his position in Yemen. That threatens the waterway that normally carries $1 trillion of trade as well as vital aid shipments Sudan And yemenwar torn country

The Houthis have also continued to launch missiles at Israel, prompting retaliatory airstrikes by Israelis on the port city of Hodeida this weekend.

Rebels acknowledged the downed MQ-9 in a pre-recorded message broadcast Monday night, hours after video footage of a suspected missile attack on the plane over Yemen’s Saada province circulated online. A single image on the Internet also showed the remains of the drone, parts of which resembled those of the MQ-9.

Images later released by the Houthis showed that the rebels had piled up the drone’s electronics, perhaps to see what they could detonate from the debris. A fragment of what appears to be a MK-82 bomb, which can be activated reaper,

The US military admitted that the MQ-9 “was shot down, but we have nothing else to provide.”

General Atomics ReapersWhich cost about $30 million each, can fly at altitudes of up to 15,240 meters and have a range of up to 24 hours before landing. Both the US military and CIA have flown these planes over Yemen for years.

As the Houthis took control of the country’s north and its capital, rageIn 2014, the US military killed Reapers in Yemen, in 2017, 2019, 2023 and 2024. The US military acknowledged that the Houthis shot down two MQ-9s in September.

Houthi rebels have attacked more than 80 merchant ships with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza began in October. They captured one ship in the campaign and sank two, killing four sailors. Other missiles and drones have been intercepted by the US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to hit their targets, including Western military ships.

The rebels say they attack ships belonging to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom to end Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some that were headed to Iran.

Those attacks included the bombing of the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion in the Red Sea. Rescue workers have pulled a burning oil tanker to prevent a catastrophic leak of millions of barrels of oil. The Joint Maritime Information Center reported on Monday that efforts to extinguish the fire in Sounion began last week and “the operation has progressed with promising results, as some fires have been extinguished and others are under control.”

(With information from Reuters and AP)