The Houthis launched hypersonic missiles toward the internationally-recognized Israeli capital of Tel Aviv on Thursday, “simultaneously with Israeli aggression on civilian facilities in the [Yemeni] capital, Sanaa, and Hodeidah province, including power stations,” the militia said in a statement on Thursday.
The missile strikes were well within Yemen’s “natural and legitimate” right to respond to Israeli aggression, the fighters added.
The operation “successfully achieved its objectives,” the militia said, emphasizing that Israeli attacks would “not deter Yemen and the Yemenis from performing their religious and moral duty in responding to [Israel’s] massacres in the Gaza Strip.”
“The operations of the Yemeni armed forces will not stop until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted,” the statement said.
An officer from the home front command military unit examines the damage after a large piece of shrapnel from Houthi missile collapsed a school building in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.
© AP Photo / Ariel Schalit
Also on Thursday, Houthi Ministry of Information advisor Tawfiq al-Humairi said Yemen is “in a state of conflict with the Israeli regime,” and would “target” Israel’s “electricity and oil infrastructure" in a tit-for-tat manner "in retaliation for the early morning attacks.”
Israeli media reported Thursday that a multistory school building had been hit by a “partially intercepted” Houthi ballistic missile, causing 40 million shekels ($11 million US) in damage, resulting in severe, irreparable damage to the building and destroying parked cars in the area. No one was hurt in the Houthi attack, local authorities said.
An officer from the home front command military unit and a policeman examine the damage after a large piece of shrapnel from Houthi missile collapsed a school building in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.
© AP Photo / Ariel Schalit
The Israeli strikes reportedly saw jets flying some 2,000 km and dropping over 60 bombs on Yemen.
Regional media said the Israeli attacks on Yemen had killed nine people, seven at the port of al-Salif and two at the Ras Isa oil facility.
Israel has been previously known to target Yemeni civilian infrastructure in response to Houthi drone and missile attacks, which the militia has promised to continue until the war in Gaza ends.
Firefighters work at the scene of an Israeli airstrike on the Haziz power station in southern Sanaa, Yemen, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. A series of intense Israeli airstrikes rocked Yemen's rebel-held capital and a port city early Thursday, killing at least nine people, according to officials.
© AP Photo / Osamah Abdulrahman
The Houthis posted footage of the launch of their Palestine-2 missiles toward Israel online, showing the weapons blasting off in the night sky on route to their targets in Tel Aviv.
The militia has been waging a multi-phase war with Israel since October 2023, starting with a drone and missile attacks campaign using increasingly sophisticated weapons. In November 2023, the militia announced a partial blockade of the Red and Arabian Seas, targeting Israeli and Israeli-linked commercial shipping, devastating the nation’s Red Sea port of Eilat, and prompting Tel Aviv and its allies to spend billions of dollars deploying military forces to try to stop the Houthis (so far, unsuccessfully).