Israel shoots down missile from Yemen following airstrikes on Houthi port
The Israeli military said it shot down a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen on Sunday, shortly after Israeli warplanes hit various Houthi targets in western Yemen.
Yemen's missile did not cross into Israeli territory, though "warnings of rocket and missile fire" were issued in case of falling fragments, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on X.
It came hours after the IDF's Air Force planes attacked Houthi targets in the western Yemen port of Hodeida, which is used as a supply route for the transfer of Iranian weapons to Houthi rebels, the Israeli military said late Saturday.
It was not immediately confirmed the Houthis were behind Sunday's missile launch, though a Houthi military spokesperson had pledged a "huge and great" response to the "Israeli aggression" on Saturday.
The Israeli airstrikes were in response to the hundreds of Houthi attacks in recent months, including a drone strike on Tel Aviv last week that left one Israeli citizen dead, per the IDF.
About 80 people were injured from the Israeli strikes in Hodeida, most of whom had severe burns from a massive fire caused by the strikes, the Associated Press reported, citing the Ministry of Health in Sanaa.
"The fire that is currently burning in Yemen is seen across the Middle East. The blood of Israeli citizens has a price," Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said on X Monday.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed militant group, have launched a series of missile or drone attacks since last year in protest of Israel's war with Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group also backed by Iran.
The group initially targeted commercial and military ships in the Red Sea in an effort to disrupt trade routes for Israel, the U.S. and other Western nations.
The Houthi attacks, in solidarity with Hamas, began shortly after the terrorist group's Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and kidnapped about 250 others.
The Oct. 7 attacks sparked the more-than-nine-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 38,000 people, per the Health Ministry in Gaza.
The U.S. formed a maritime task force late last year to counter the Houthi threat in the Red Sea.