Israel Says It Will Target Houthi Leaders, as with Hamas, Hezbollah

Israel said this week that it will begin targeting Houthi rebel leaders in Yemen, just as it has targeted the leaders of Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, in order to stop the Iranian-backed group from firing missiles at Israel.

The warning came after the Houthis fired several missiles at Israel this week, even after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked Houthi targets in the port city of Hodeidah and the capital city of Sana’a to deter future launches.

One missile was intercepted by Israel’s Arrow missile defense system on Monday, but another missile evaded interceptors and crashed into a playground in Tel Aviv early Saturday morning. No children were present at the time.

The Times of Israel reported Tuesday:

Israel will begin targeting leaders of Yemen’s Houthi rebel group, Defense Minister Israel Katz says, vowing that Israel will not allow missile and drone fire on Israel to continue unchecked.

Firing at Houthi leaders would seem to mark an escalation by Israel, which has so far targeted port infrastructure and military sites in a handful of sorties in response to repeated launches of drones and ballistic missiles from Yemen. A missile fired early Tuesday was shot down, but sirens in the Tel Aviv area caused widespread panic and a rush to shelter left one woman seriously injured.

“Just as we took care of Sinwar in Gaza, Haniyeh in Tehran and Nasrallah in Beirut, we will deal with the heads of the Houthis in Sana’a or anywhere in Yemen,” Katz says, referring to the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.

Yemen, over 2,000 kilometers from Israel, has no common border with the Jewish state and no grievance against it. However, with Iranian backing, it has fired dozens of missiles and drones at Israel, unprovoked, since Hamas launched its terror attack against Israel last October 7. Of the major Iranian proxy forces, it is the last one still able to attack Israel. It has also attacked international shipping in the Red Sea, a passage for 15% of the world’s maritime trade.

Then-President Donald Trump listed the Houthis as a terror group in 2021; President Joe Biden revoked that designation almost as soon as he took office a few weeks later.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.