• Source:JND
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Israel launched a barrage of airstrikes on Thursday against Houthi forces in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in direct retaliation for a drone attack on Israel's Red Sea resort city of Eilat on Wednesday.

In a statement, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) verified that its warplanes attacked some high-value military installations associated with Yemen's Houthis, including the group's General Staff Command headquarters, security and intelligence compounds, military public relations offices, and camps where weapons and drones were stored.

"We have just launched a fierce attack on many of the Houthis' terror targets in Sanaa," Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced in a post on X.

Strikes Target Leadership And Facilities

At least 13 individual strikes were conducted in and around Sanaa, in the Sab'ein district by the presidential palace and Bab al-Yemen neighbourhood, said military sources. They killed dozens of Houthi militants and wiped out ammunition caches and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The attacks were timed with a pre-recorded address by Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi and comments from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the United Nations, highlighting the regional nature of the war.

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Footage circulating online depicts major clouds of smoke billowing out from several areas in central Sanaa as blasts rocked the city. Local sources indicated heavy shelling in the vicinity of major Houthi military barracks.

Retaliation For Drone Attack On Israel

The attack follows just one day after a Houthi-launched drone hit an Eilat hotel, injuring some 20 individuals, two of them gravely. Israeli leaders had set the stage for Thursday's strikes as a "measured but firm" response to shield its citizens from sustained Houthi attacks.

The Houthis, who dominate the north of Yemen, have pressed attacks on Israel more in the recent past, claiming solidarity with Palestinians during the war in Gaza. Their long-range missiles and drones have more and more been used against Israeli territory, and this has provided another element of volatility to the Middle East.

Israel and the Houthis have been in a cycle of bombardments and counterattacks for more than a year. Israel has intercepted earlier drone and missile launches from Yemen, but Thursday's attack is one of the largest Israeli operations within Yemeni territory to date.

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