The attacks on western Yemen come a day after the Houthis announced that they had fired a missile at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv.
The Israeli military said it launched a series of air strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, raising fears of a wider regional conflagration in the wake of intensified Israeli attacks on Gaza and Lebanon.
The army said in a statement on Sunday that dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, attacked power plants and sea port facilities in the ports of Ras Issa and Hodeidah. The air strikes caused a power outage in most parts of Hodeidah, according to residents, and casualties are feared.
The attack came a day after the Houthis announced that they had fired a ballistic missile at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv in Israel.
The Iran-allied group has repeatedly launched attacks on Israel and on ships associated with it in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Bab al-Mandab Strait since November last year, in what it described as a campaign of solidarity with the Palestinians. In light of the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
The Israeli military statement said: “Over the past year, the Houthis have been working under the direction and funding of Iran, and in cooperation with Iraqi militias, in order to attack the State of Israel, undermine regional stability, and disrupt global freedom of navigation.” He added.
In a statement, the Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack on Sunday, which led to large columns of smoke rising into the sky. Official spokesman Nasser Al-Kanaani described the attacks as “inhumane” and accused the United States of fully supporting Israel’s “crimes.”
Hussein Al-Bukhaiti, a journalist and political analyst based in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, told Al Jazeera that firefighters are trying to extinguish the fires that broke out after the air strikes.
Israel previously struck Hodeidah port in July after a Houthi drone strike penetrated Israeli air defenses and killed a civilian in Tel Aviv.
Earlier this month, the Houthis, who control most of northern Yemen, reached central Israel with what they described as a hypersonic missile. The attack caused fires, set off air raid sirens and prompted residents to flee to the area surrounding Ben Gurion Airport.
Furthermore, Sunday’s airstrikes came as Israel continues to launch deadly attacks across Lebanon, displacing up to one million people.
On Saturday, the Houthis mourned the killing of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli attack on a densely populated civilian area in southern Beirut on Friday.
The group also called on Israel to stop its attack on Lebanon.
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