Netanyahu is threatening the Houthis in Yemen with tougher tactics

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Netanyahu is threatening the Houthis in Yemen with tougher tactics

The Islamists are endangering Israel and world trade with their rockets. In Syria, after the fall of Assad, a lot depends on foreign actors. There is no end to the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza.

After increased attacks by the Houthi militia on Israel, the Jewish state is threatening the Islamists in Yemen with expanded military strikes. “Just as we have taken powerful action against the terrorist affiliates of the Iranian “Axis of Evil,” we will take action against the Houthis,” announced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s military will act “powerfully, decisively and sophisticatedly,” he said in a video he recorded immediately after a briefing with military officials in the northern city of Safed.

On Saturday night, a rocket from Yemen hit the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv. According to emergency services, dozens of people were injured. Unlike previous cases, Israeli air defense attempts to intercept the projectile were unsuccessful. Two days earlier, debris from a Houthi rocket had fallen on a school building in the suburb of Ramat Gan. The fact that there were no casualties was only due to the fact that no one was in the building at the time of the early morning attack.

Since the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023, the Houthi militias allied with Hamas have regularly attacked targets in Israel and ships in the Red Sea with rockets and drones. According to the Israeli military, the Houthis have since fired 200 rockets and 170 drones into Israel. Most of the bullets were intercepted or did not reach Israel.

The damage to the Israeli economy is nevertheless considerable. The risk posed by the attacks paralyzed Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat. The damage caused to global trade by the Houthi shelling of international cargo ships in the Red Sea and off the coast of Yemen is even greater. Egypt, in turn, is suffering enormous losses because of lost revenue from the Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and saves shipping from having to circumnavigate Africa.

Both Israel and the USA and their allies are therefore bombing Houthi positions or ports in Yemen. Israel is not alone, said Netanyahu in his announcement of increased attacks against the Islamists. “The United States and other countries see the Houthis not only as a threat to international shipping, but also as one that goes against the international order,” he added.

According to a report, the head of the foreign intelligence service Mossad, David Barnea, is advising the Israeli leadership to attack Iran. “We have to aim for the head – just attacking the Houthis is not enough,” he is said to have said in discussions with government leaders, according to a report on Channel 13 television. The broadcaster cited unnamed people who had knowledge of the discussions. For years, Iran has built up the Houthi militia in Yemen as an extension of its expansionist efforts in the Middle East region.

Around two weeks after the overthrow of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad, the new leadership of the Arab country, formed by the victorious rebels, continues to strive for international acceptance. The leader of the Islamist group HTS, Ahmed al-Sharaa, called on foreign states influential in the country to take joint steps for the future of Syria. “It is important that the major players agree on general principles regarding Syria,” he said in Damascus after a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

In addition to Turkey, it is primarily the USA and its Western allies, the Gulf states, Iran, Russia and Israel that exercise military or economic influence in Syria. Nevertheless, the Syrians must be allowed to decide independently about the country’s stability and security, said al-Sharaa – previously known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani. “The population has suffered greatly over the past 14 years.”