The Israeli Air Force launched a blistering assault on Houthi-controlled targets in Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah on Monday evening, retaliating for a brazen ballistic missile attack by the Iran-backed terror group that struck Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv just a day earlier, leaving six injured and international airlines scrambling to suspend flights.

Under the cover of darkness, approximately 20 IAF fighter jets roared 2,000 kilometers across the skies, hammering Houthi infrastructure with surgical precision. The strikes zeroed in on the strategic Hodeidah port and a concrete factory near Bajil, unleashing 50 munitions in a thunderous display of military might. Refuelers and spy planes supported the operation, ensuring its success, as images released by the military captured the jets poised for action on the tarmac.

The IDF noted the Hodeidah port is a critical hub for the “transfer of Iranian weapons” and other terror-related equipment, while the Bajil factory was exposed as a linchpin in the Houthi economy, allegedly used to construct tunnels and military infrastructure. “These strikes deliver a crippling blow to the Houthi terror regime’s economic and military ambitions,” the IDF said, underscoring the operation’s intent to choke the group’s resources.

The assault marked Israel’s sixth strike in Yemen since the onset of the war and the first since January, shattering a period of restraint following a U.S.-led aerial campaign against the Houthis. Israeli officials confirmed coordination with the United States but emphasized the operation was solely their own. The terror group, whose chilling mantra calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, and a Curse on the Jews,” had fired a missile on Sunday that carved a gaping crater near Ben Gurion’s Terminal 3, rattling nerves and disrupting global air travel.

Footage revealed a massive inferno engulfing the Bajil factory, while images from Israel’s Defense Ministry showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir orchestrating the operation from the IAF’s underground command center in Tel Aviv. Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, the IAF chief, commanded the strikes from a nearby post.

The Houthis claimed their airport attack deployed a “hypersonic ballistic missile,” a boast swiftly debunked by the IDF, which clarified that neither the Houthis nor their Iranian patrons possess such advanced weaponry. The group vowed to impose a “comprehensive air blockade” on Israel, targeting Ben Gurion and other airports—a threat experts deem unlikely given Israel’s robust missile defense systems. Nonetheless, the Houthis’ audacity has kept Israelis on edge, with air raid sirens driving hundreds of thousands into shelters amid fears of incoming missiles and falling debris.

Hours before Israel’s strikes, U.S. forces reportedly pounded Houthi targets near Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, wounding 16, according to the rebels’ Health Ministry. The Houthi-run Saba news agency decried the attacks as “American aggression,” while Al-Masirah TV reported additional strikes in Sanaa and Al-Jawf.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)