Israel Strikes Yemen: Netanyahu Warns Houthis Of Heavy Price After Sanaa Attack Kills Six

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Yemen’s Houthi movement that it will face consequences for attacks against Israel, following airstrikes in the Yemeni capital Sanaa that killed at least six people on Sunday.

Speaking from the Israeli Air Force command centre in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said, "Whoever attacks us, we will attack him. Whoever plans to attack us, we attack him. I think the entire region is learning Israel’s strength and determination…..The Houthi terrorist regime is learning the hard way that it will pay and is paying a very heavy price for its aggression against Israel."

The Israeli Air Force said it struck several sites in Sanaa, including a military compound housing the presidential palace, a fuel depot, and two power stations. Defence Minister Israel Katz stated, “The IDF has now destroyed the Houthi presidential palace in Yemen and attacked fuel depots and power and electricity stations. We continue to impose an air and naval blockade and are hitting infrastructure targets that are used to promote Houthi terrorism.” However, Netanyahu himself only indicated that the palace had been struck, Hindustan Times reported.

Katz also warned that “for every missile that the Houthis launch at Israel, they will pay many times over.” The strikes followed an Israeli military assessment that the Houthis had, for the first time, launched a ballistic missile armed with a cluster bomb warhead at Israel last Friday night, reported HT.

According to Houthi-run Saba news agency, the air raids killed six people and left 86 others injured, with more than 20 in critical condition. A Houthi security source told AFP that the strikes targeted a building in central Sanaa. The group’s Al-Masirah TV said additional strikes hit an oil company facility and a power station in the southern part of the city, which had already been attacked the previous week.