Israel increases bombing of Houthis in Yemen after beheading of Hezbollah leadership International

Gaza, Lebanon and back to Yemen. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this Saturday – after the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and almost the entire leadership – made it clear that “there is no place in Iran or the Middle East where Israel’s long arms do not reach.” A day later, its forces launched a “large-scale air campaign” against the Iran-allied rebel group Houthis and the Palestinian Hamas militia, which controls the capital and the most populated areas of northwestern Yemen, about 1,800 kilometers from the Israeli border. Announced. At least four people have died and 29 have been injured, according to the first reports from the Houthi regime’s health ministry. This is the second Israeli attack on Yemen. The first was in July. The militia on Friday tried to shoot down the plane carrying Netanyahu returning from New York to Tel Aviv after attending the United Nations General Assembly and approving Nasrallah’s killing. The missile which triggered alert in several parts of the country was intercepted by air defense systems.

The armed forces said in a statement that dozens of warplanes, backed by refueling and reconnaissance planes, attacked the areas of Ras Isa and Hodeida on the country’s west coast. Residents say the bombing has left much of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida without power.

Fighters have attacked power plants and a port. They were targeted because, according to the military, “the Houthi regime brought Iranian weapons and supplies for military needs and hence also oil into the region through the attacked infrastructure and ports”. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari had already issued a similar warning to Lebanon on Friday, when he threatened to bomb the airport. An Iranian cargo plane has canceled its arrival and flights coming from Syria also do not dare to land.

In a new display of solidarity with the Shiite axis of resistance against Israel, Mahdi al Mashat, chairman of the Supreme Political Council established by the Houthis in Yemen, declared three days of mourning this Saturday for the “martyrdom” of leader Hassan Nasrallah. This Friday, a Lebanese Hezbollah militia was killed by Israeli aircraft in a massive bombardment carried out against the Beirutian district of Dahiye. The number of people starting this Monday in Lebanon is very high.

The Houthi militia – or Ansar Allah (Supporters of God), its real name – is a Shia movement that controls 30% of Yemen’s territory, where it has imposed a fundamentalist and repressive regime that is accused of serious human rights violations. On October 31, 2023, the militia announced the opening of a “third front” against Israel, in addition to Gaza and Hezbollah. They have become increasingly involved in the conflict, particularly through daily attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, leading the United States and the United Kingdom to bomb militia positions last January and establish a military mission in the area. . Israel has accused them of acting “under the direction and financing of Iran” and of colluding with Iraqi militias to attack them, “undermining regional order and disrupting global freedom of navigation.”

The Israeli military has bombed Yemen hours after releasing the names of twenty other Hezbollah commanders killed in the attack that destroyed Nasrallah, whose body was pulled from the debris this Sunday. The balance (aviation dropped 40 bombs, some weighing a ton and capable of penetrating bunkers) will take time to ascertain, given the destruction of the crater and at least six residential buildings.

Revolutionary Guard vice commander Abbas Nilforoshan, who was attending a meeting of leaders underground, was among the dead. The Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said this Sunday that the death of Nilforoshan “will not go unanswered”, although Tehran has not wanted to raise its tone these days, despite the constant attacks on its ally Hezbollah, to which it provides funding and weapons. .

Israel continues to bomb Lebanon during the day as part of its intensified offensive, which has eliminated almost the entire leadership of Hezbollah, killed over a thousand people (including 14 doctors and paramedics in the last two days) and hundreds of thousands more. People have been forced to leave their homes. Since Friday, there have been daily attacks on Hezbollah’s stronghold in Dahiye on the outskirts of Beirut, as well as the south and the Bekaa valley, which is rapidly being evacuated. Bombings have killed 24 people since the morning in Ain Deleb in the south and 21 in the east, according to the Lebanese health ministry. In the capital, Israeli drones can be heard flying and explosions caused by air strikes echo in Dahiya.

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