Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on Tuesday pledged more attacks against Israel if its war on Hamas in Gaza continues, saying it had already fired drones and ballistic missiles in three separate operations.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces… confirm they will continue to carry out qualitative strikes with missiles and drones until the Israeli aggression stops,” said a Houthi military statement aired on the group’s Al-Masirah TV.
It said the Houthis “launched a large batch of ballistic missiles… and a large number of armed aircraft” toward Israel on Tuesday, in the third such operation since the Gaza assault began on October 7 after Hamas militants staged the worst attack in Israel’s history.
Earlier, Israel’s military said a “hostile aircraft intrusion” had set off warning sirens in Eilat, its Red Sea resort, later saying it had intercepted a “surface-to-surface missile” fired toward Israeli territory, that was “successfully intercepted by the ‘Arrow’ aerial defense system.”
“All aerial threats were intercepted outside of Israeli territory,” it said.
Abdelaziz bin Habtour, prime minister of the Houthi government, on Tuesday said the Houthis were “part of the axis of resistance” against Israel, which includes Tehran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and were fighting with both “words and drones.”
“It is one axis and there is coordination taking place, a joint operations room, and a joint command for all these operations,” he said.
“We cannot allow this arrogant Zionist enemy to kill our people.”
The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 and control large swathes of the country.
