Houthis rebels in Yemen said on Sunday that they would impose a "comprehensive" aerial blockade on Israel by continuing to target its airport, owing to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza strip, Reuters reported.
Houthis rebels blamed Washington on Monday for around 10 strikes in and around Yemen’s capital Sanaa in retaliation to Houthis’ attack on Israel's main Ben Gurion Airport, according to AFP.
Media reports suggest that the US strikes wounded 14 people in the Sawan neighbourhood.
On Sunday, Houthis claimed responsibility for a strike in Israel's Ben Gurion Airport. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late on Sunday said in a video posted to his X account, "we have acted in the past, and we will act in the future. I cannot detail everything. The United States, in coordination with us, is also acting against them. It's not a one-and-done, but there will be blows."
Iran-backed Houthis have regularly launched air strikes in the past months, targeting Israel as a solidarity response to Palestinians.
Israel’s missile defense systems have thwarted most of Yemen’s attacks. The May 4 missile was one of the serious attacks that was not intercepted since March, Reuters reported.
Last month, the US government saw a breach in military intelligence when a journalist accidentally sent American war plans for strikes in Yemen.
Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to a group chat on the Signal messaging app in March. He read the correspondence between senior national security officials that mentioned attacks against the Houthis in Yemen. The messages also carried information about the targets and the weapons employed.
However, Goldberg did not make the messages public, favouring the country’s national security.
Consequently, multiple places in Yemen were bombed on 15 March.
Since November 2023, military vessels in the Red Sea have been targeted by the Houthis, triggering a retaliation from the U.S.
