"I have instructed our forces to destroy the infrastructure of Huthis because anyone who tries to harm us will be struck with full force. We will continue to crush the forces of evil with strength and ingenuity, even if it takes time," Netanyahu said in parliament.
Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
Jerusalem (AFP) Dec 22, 2024 -
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to retaliate against Yemen's Huthi rebels after they fired a missile at Tel Aviv, warning that Israel would target what he described as the last remaining arm of "Iran's axis of evil".
The Huthis struck Israel's commercial hub on Saturday with what they claimed was a ballistic missile, injuring 16 people and forcing many to leave their homes following the pre-dawn attack.
"As we acted with force against the terrorist arms of Iran's axis of evil, so we will act against the Huthis... with force, determination and sophistication," Netanyahu said in a video statement.
Saturday's strike on Tel Aviv was the second such attack on Israel by the Huthis this week, and one of several since the war in Gaza broke out.
The Iranian-backed Huthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages on.
The war began on October 7, 2023, following Hamas' deadly attack on Israel.
Netanyahu's latest comments came after the United States said it struck targets in Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa on Saturday, hours after the Huthis hit Tel Aviv.
Among the targets was a Huthi missile storage centre and a "command-and-control facility," the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
US forces also shot down multiple Huthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea, it said.
However, two US Navy pilots were shot down over the Red Sea early Sunday in "an apparent case of friendly fire," the US military said.
The Huthis later claimed they had "targeted" the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman a day earlier in an operation that led to "shooting down an F-18 aircraft".
- 'Not alone' against Huthis -
US and British forces have repeatedly struck rebel targets in Yemen in response to Huthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which are vital to global trade.
Israel has also previously struck the Huthis in Yemen, including hitting ports and energy facilities, after rebel attacks against its territory.
The latest Israeli strike against the Huthis was on Thursday, with Israeli warplanes striking Sanaa for the first time.
The Israeli response came soon after the rebels fired a missile that damaged an Israeli school.
On Sunday, Netanyahu acknowledged Washington's backing, saying that Israel was "not alone" in its fight against the Huthis.
"The US, as well as other countries, see the Huthis as a threat not only to international shipping - but to the international order", Netanyahu said in his video statement.
In a similar statement issued earlier this week, Netanyahu said the Huthis would "pay a very heavy price" for their attacks on Israel.
"After Hamas, Hezbollah and the (Bashar al-)Assad regime in Syria, the Huthis are almost the last arm of Iran's axis of evil," he said.
"They are finding out, and will find out, the hard way that whoever harms Israel -- will pay a very heavy price."
As well as Hamas, Israel has fought Iran-backed groups across the region since the start of the war in Gaza, including the Huthis in Yemen and a full-blown war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Those campaigns have killed several leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, including the mastermind of the October 7 attack, Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, as well as Iranian commanders.
Israel also assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, while Sinwar's predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a brazen attack in Tehran, which Iran and Hamas have blamed on Israel.
Israel further shocked Hezbollah with attacks involving exploding pagers and walkie-talkies that killed dozens of its fighters and wounded thousands, according to Lebanese authorities.
In late November, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire, which has stopped the former's blistering bombing campaign inside Lebanon but Israeli troops are still operating in southern parts of the neighbouring country.
Houthis take credit for downing American plane after CENTCOM alleges friendly fire
Washington DC (UPI) Dec 22, 2024 -
Yemen's Ansar Allah movement, better known as the Houthis, has taken credit for the downing of an American military plane after the U.S. Central Command said it was shot in a friendly fire incident.
Two pilots with the U.S. Navy ejected from a fighter jet flying off from the USS Harry S. Truman over the Red Sea on Sunday when the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg "mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18," NBC News reported citing a Central Command statement.
American officials reportedly said one of the pilots may have sustained minor injuries and that an investigation into the incident was underway.
The statement came after Central Command said it conducted "precision" airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility operated by the Houthis, a Zaydi Shia Muslim armed movement and participant in Yemen's multi-faction civil war.
The Houthis, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and its allies, have exchanged missile fire with Israel and have attacked shipping vessels in the Red Sea to support Palestinians amid Israel's war in Gaza, leading to military action against them by the United States, Israel's ally.
American authorities did not make clear if those airstrikes were tied to the alleged friendly fire incident. But American authorities boasted of shooting down multiple one-way drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea in an operation involving F/A-18s.
Houthi Brigadier General Yahya Qasim Sare'e said in a statement posted on Telegram and reviewed by UPI that the Yemeni militia had succeeded in thwarting a joint American-British attack on the country by targeting the American ships on Saturday evening as the airstrikes were being carried out.
Sare'e said the Houthi operation was carried out with eight cruise missiles and 17 drones that led to the downing of the fighter jet and "the failure of the hostile attack on Yemeni territory."
It appeared as if the Houthis were taking credit for the friendly fire incident by causing confusion with its attack, though the group seemingly did not shoot down the plane itself.
"The American attacks on Yemen are condemned and illegal terrorist attacks that support the terrorism of the temporary Israeli entity to continue the genocide and siege of the people of Gaza," Mohammed al-Houthi said in a statement.
"The American terrorist attacks confirm the lawless rampage and criminality in the region. The reckless terrorist actions against Yemen do not stop the support operations for Gaza."
Al-Houthi alleged that the U.S. Central Command would not disclose the truth about the crash of the plane "to prevent further collapse of the morale of its soldiers."
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