Israeli forces claim to have intercepted a ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi militants targeting the southern city of Eilat, in retaliation for a series of Israeli air strikes on the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah.
Meanwhile, wildfires raged in northern Israel after rocket attacks from Lebanon. Sirens sounded across the country’s north after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired rockets and drones from across the border, raising fears of a regional confrontation as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared to travel to Washington for a speech to Congress.
The Israeli military said several rockets targeting northern Israel were intercepted, while drones sent from Lebanon landed in open fields, starting forest fires. Israeli forces said they struck southern Lebanon in retaliation.
Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the militants fired several ballistic missiles towards Eilat in the early hours of Sunday, and targeted an American ship in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, calling both attempts “successful.”
The group has promised a “massive” response to the Israeli offensive, amid fears of an escalating regional conflict. Gaza’s civil defense reported heavy fighting in the southern city of Rafah and dozens of deaths from Israeli air strikes in the center of the territory.
Saree said that “the response to the Israeli aggression against our country will definitely come and it will be big”.
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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its Arrow 3 missile defense system intercepted the missile aimed at Eilat outside Israeli airspace, but sirens sounded to warn local residents of possible falling debris.
The attempted attack on the port city follows Israeli airstrikes targeting oil facilities, cranes and a power plant near Hodeidah, which Saree said killed three people, wounded 87 and left columns of smoke and flames towering over the port facilities.
Netanyahu said Israel chose the target in Hodeidah because the port is used for “military purposes”.
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“They are using these weapons to attack Israel, to attack countries in the region, to attack international shipping lanes, one of the most important shipping lanes in the world,” he said after the attack.
The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli air force believes targeting infrastructure such as cranes, which it claims are used for military purposes, would send a message to hostile parties including Hezbollah that Israel is capable and willing to retaliate against attacks that could be considered disproportionate.
The targeting of Hodeidah port facilities has raised concerns about the provision of international aid to Yemen, where millions of people are facing famine and an estimated 18.2 million people need humanitarian assistance, according to the EU.
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The UN development programme has previously described Hodeidah port as “critical for the delivery of food and humanitarian aid”.
Saudi authorities said after the attack that the country was not involved in the strike, and refused to allow its airspace to be used for the attack despite ongoing conflict with Houthi militants.
Israeli forces struck Hodeidah in retaliation for a rare drone strike on Tel Aviv early Friday that killed one man and wounded 10 others. While the Houthis hailed the attack as a success due to their growing drone capabilities, Israeli authorities blamed “human error” for causing a gap in air defenses.
The Houthis have vowed to continue their attacks as long as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues. Israel’s attacks on the territory have killed more than 38,000 people in nearly 10 months of war, the longest in the country’s history.
Abdulmalik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi militia in Yemen, said “attacks on civilian facilities do not serve as a deterrent for us”.
The aim of the drone strikes, he added, was “to put pressure on the aggression on Gaza to stop as the war enters its 10th month”.
For months, the group’s targeting of global shipping lanes in the Red Sea has caused serious disruption to trade, forcing ships to take alternative routes away from Eilat and crippling business at the port.
Netanyahu remains under increasing pressure at home, including from the Israeli public and his own top military officials, to agree to a cease-fire deal that would release some of the estimated 116 hostages still held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and a lull in fighting.
The prime minister reportedly met with Israeli negotiators Sunday before he was scheduled to fly to Washington. He is now scheduled to leave for the U.S. on Monday morning and meet Biden on Tuesday, his office said, without giving a reason for the delay.
Observers hope Netanyahu’s trip to the US will also provide a path to defuse tensions in northern Israel and southern Lebanon, and avoid a regional war.
Hezbollah fired rockets toward a kibbutz in northern Israel on Saturday in response to an Israeli strike in Lebanon that hit a weapons depot and wounded several people, including children. Lebanon-based Hamas militants also fired on an Israeli army base, and a drone strike wounded two Israeli soldiers in the occupied Golan Heights.
Although Washington’s top diplomat, Antony Blinken, said a ceasefire deal was “close to the finish line,” observers fear there are still major gaps.
Those with intimate knowledge of the negotiations say US efforts to prevent war between Israel and Lebanon have proven more successful than efforts to secure peace in Gaza. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said this month that the group would halt attacks on Israel if a ceasefire in Gaza was reached. (The Guardian/Z-3)
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