The latest exchange between Israel and the Houthi movement unfolded on the event date with a missile launch from Yemen, an interception by Israeli defenses, and fresh vows of retaliation from both sides.
According to the supplied Guardian report, Houthi rebels said they fired a ballistic missile at Ben Gurion airport and launched a drone toward Tel Aviv in response to Israeli strikes on Sana’a’s airport. The Israel Defense Forces said the missile was intercepted before it reached Israeli airspace, though residents in central Israel were still instructed to seek shelter because of concern over falling debris. No hostile drones over Tel Aviv were reported.
The episode followed Israeli airstrikes on Yemen a day earlier. Those strikes were carried out after a Houthi missile and drone launch against Israel on Wednesday, continuing a tit-for-tat pattern that has expanded well beyond the original Gaza battlefield. The Houthis said their attacks were being carried out in solidarity with Palestinians and that Israeli strikes would only deepen their resolve. Israel, for its part, said its campaign against Houthi targets would continue.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s goal in Yemen was to eliminate the Houthi threat and described the group as part of Iran’s regional network. Defense Minister Israel Katz also threatened further action, saying Israel would hunt down Houthi leaders and strike them as it has done elsewhere. The Guardian report said Netanyahu and Katz monitored the attacks from the air force command center.
The scale of the Israeli response was significant. Israeli press accounts cited in the report said 25 fighter jets took part in a long-range operation that hit targets across Yemen. The main target was Sana’a international airport, where the strike left the top of the control tower destroyed and damaged terminal windows. The report said the airport authorities reported four dead and 20 injured, while Houthi media put the overall death toll from the strikes at six.
Other infrastructure was hit as well. According to the Israeli statement cited by the Guardian, the air force also struck the Hezyaz power station south of Sana’a and several sites around Hodeidah, including the port, an oil terminal and another power station. Israel said those facilities were being used to move Iranian weapons and to support the entry of senior Iranian officials. The report itself did not independently verify that claim, and the article should not overstate it.
The conflict also affected international personnel. The World Health Organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was at Sana’a airport waiting to leave when the strikes occurred. A crew member from the UN flight was injured. WHO later said Tedros and other UN colleagues were evacuated in marked vehicles and later departed for a safer location. Tedros said the injured crew member had surgery and was flown to Jordan for further treatment.
The clash underscored a strategic problem for Israel. Military analysts cited in the Guardian report said the Houthis are harder to target than Hamas or Hezbollah because they are based far from Israel in a chaotic country. That means Israel can strike, but not as easily degrade the Houthi chain of command as it has in nearby theaters.
The immediate effect was another escalation in a regional conflict that has repeatedly spilled into shipping routes, airports and distant military sites. The interception at Ben Gurion prevented a direct hit on the airport, but it did not stop the cycle of attack and response that has made the Yemen front a sustained part of the wider war.
