In anticipation of this move, Israel has significantly increased its military presence in Yemen. In a recent airstrike, they managed to take out several high-ranking leaders of the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group. On Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition hit a military base in Sanaa — home to the deposed Yemeni president’s palace. This successful strike is an important part of Israel’s long campaign to disrupt Iran’s proxy networks across the region.
The Israeli military has carefully targeted its attacks at military targets, and especially at civilian infrastructure used by the Houthis. This strategic approach is in direct reaction to a set of provocations put forward by the collective. Significantly, they test-launched a missile that bore a new model of cluster sub-munition. The missile’s launch even forced Defense Minister Israel Katz to publicly threaten retaliation against Houthi leadership.
From the start of the Gaza war almost two years ago, Israel has unleashed its vast intelligence capabilities with visible aggressiveness. They have laser-targeted and removed heavy-hitters connected to Iran’s proxies. She has made this airstrike her biggest win. It did so very effectively, killing Ahmed al-Rahawi, a senior Houthi figure and the Houthi’s war minister. The strike caused serious injury to non-strike attendees.
“We will hit the strategic infrastructures of the Houthi terrorist organization, and we will behead its leaders – just like we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar, and Nasrallah – in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon. This is what we will do in Hodeida and Sanaa as well,” stated Defense Minister Israel Katz.
The Houthis have promised to retaliate for Israeli attacks. They see these organizational efforts as one battle in a greater struggle against the “US-backed Zionist enemy.” Houthi Minister of War, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Nasser al-Atifi proclaimed their determination to combat these dangers on all fronts.
The escalation follows a series of missile attacks by the Houthis against shipping in the Red Sea, as acts of solidarity with Palestinians following the October 7 attacks. Israeli defenses have downed the vast majority of these missiles. In response to these threats from the Houthis, all but three have resulted in a more forceful military reaction.
In recent months, Israel has demonstrated its capability to eliminate prominent leaders of various militant groups in the Middle East. It carried out high-profile assassinations last October, including the targeted killing of Hamas’ leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip. The previous year, it had similarly eliminated key political figure Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. On top of this, Israel carried out an airstrike days later assassinating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
High-ranking Houthi leaders were assembled at the time of the airstrike to view a speech from their reclusive leader. This narrowing of Hamas’ leadership created a real moment in time for Israeli forces to eliminate several top leaders in a single operation.
