Israel launches airstrikes on Yemen day after Houthi rebels strike Israeli airport
The rebels' media office said at least six strikes hit the crucial Hodeida port Monday afternoon. Other strikes hit a cement factory in the Bajil district, located 55 kilometers northeast of Hodeida city, the rebels said. The extent of damage at the two facilities wasn't immediately clear.
The Israeli military said more than 20 Israeli fighter planes took part in the operation, dropping more than 50 munitions on dozens of targets.
Hodeida residents said they heard explosions at the port, with flames and smoke seen rising over the area. Ambulance sirens were also heard across the city, they said.
'It was very strong,' Ahmed Saleh, who lives close to the port, said of the explosions.
In Bajil, fires and thick columns of smoke were seen over the cement factory, which the Houthis said was hit by both United States and Israeli strikes. Ambulances also rushed to the area, said resident Khalid Seif.
The Houthi-run Health Ministry said at least one person was killed and 35 others were wounded in the Israeli strikes on the factory. It said rescuers were still searching for missing people.
On Sunday, the Houthis launched a missile from Yemen that struck an access road near Israel's main airport , briefly halting flights and commuter traffic. Four people were lightly injured. It was the first time a missile struck the grounds of Israel's airport since the start of the war.
The Houthis claimed that the strikes were a joint Israeli-American operation. However, a US defense official said US forces did not participate in the Israeli strikes on Yemen on Monday. The strikes were not part of Operation Rough Rider, which is the ongoing US military operation against the Houthis in Yemen to prevent them from targeting ships in the Red Sea that started March 15. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Separately, the US military launched multiple strikes Monday on Sanaa, another US official said. That official also spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
Nasruddin Amer, head of the Houthi media office, said the Israeli strikes won't deter the rebels, vowing they will respond to the attack.
'The aggressive Zionist-American raids on civilian facilities will not affect our military operations against the Zionist enemy entity,' he said on social media.
He said the Houthis will escalate their attacks and won't stop targeting shipping routes and Israel until it stops the war in Gaza.
The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout the war in solidarity with Palestinians, raising their profile at home and internationally as the last member of Iran's self-described 'Axis of Resistance' capable of launching regular attacks on Israel. The US military under President Donald Trump has launched an intensified campaign of daily airstrikes targeting the Houthis since March 15.
Houthi rebels have fired at Israel since the war with Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023. The missiles have mostly been intercepted, although some have penetrated Israel's missile defense systems, causing damage. Israel has struck back against the rebels in Yemen.
The Israeli military said it targeted the Hodeida port because Houthi rebels were using it to receive weapons and military equipment from Iran. Rebel-held Hodeida, about 145 km southwest of the capital Sanaa, has been key for food shipments into Yemen as its decade-long war continues.
Israel has struck Yemen, and specifically the port city of Hodeida, multiple times. It previously struck Hodeida and its oil infrastructure in July after a Houthi drone attack killed one person and wounded 10 in Tel Aviv. In September, Israel struck Hodeida again, killing at least four people after a rebel missile targeted Israel's Ben Gurion airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving back to the country. In December, Israeli strikes killed at least nine people in Hodeida. The Houthis have launched multiple missiles toward Israel in the past week.
The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday came hours before Israeli Cabinet ministers voted to expand the war in Gaza, including to seize the Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time. While air traffic resumed after an hour, the attack could lead to cancelations of many airlines, which had recently resumed flights to Israel.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Korea Herald
5 days ago
- Korea Herald
Pope Leo XIV surprises Catholic youth festival with unexpected popemobile salute
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV surprised tens of thousands of young Catholics on Tuesday and showed up unexpectedly at a Holy Year welcome ceremony, thrilling the kids and receiving a rock star's welcome in the first big youth event of his pontificate. Leo emerged in St. Peter's Square in his popemobile at the end of an evening Mass that kicked off the Jubilee of Youth, a weeklong celebration for young Catholics. The estimated 120,000 young pilgrims who had packed the square erupted in shocked cheers and chants, as Leo looped around the square and up and down the boulevard leading to it. For 20 minutes, Leo beamed, waved and clearly seemed to enjoy the outpouring of enthusiasm from his perch on the popemobile, as he took in the sea of cheering, flag-waving young people from around the world as the setting sun cast a golden glow over the basilica. In a brief off-the-cuff salute and blessing from the altar, he told the young pilgrims that they were beacons of light, hope and peace that the world needs today. 'The world needs messages of hope. You are this message, and must give hope to everyone,' he said in a mix of Spanish, English and Italian. 'We want peace in the world. We want peace in the world!' Leo, the first American pope, hadn't been expected to meet with the young pilgrims as a group until the weekend, when he was to preside over a vigil Saturday and Mass on Sunday in the highlight of the Jubilee week. Tuesday's Mass had been celebrated by the Italian archbishop who organized the Holy Year, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, but it was he who urged the kids to not leave the square at the end, because the pope 'had a surprise for us.' The crowd responded with the classic refrain from Catholic youth gatherings: 'This is the youth of the pope.' This week, downtown Rome has swarmed with energetic, singing and dancing masses of teenage Catholic scouts, church and Catholic school groups whose numbers are expected to swell to 500,000 by the weekend. It all had the vibe of a scaled-down World Youth Day, the once-every-three-year Catholic Woodstock festival that was inaugurated by St. John Paul II and maintained by every pope since. Tuesday began with groups of Catholic influencers — priests, nuns and ordinary faithful who use their social media presence to preach and teach the faith — passing through the basilica's Holy Door, a rite of passage for the estimated 32 million people participating in the Vatican's 2025 Holy Year celebrations. Francis met with some of the influencers earlier Tuesday and thanked them for using their digital platforms to spread the faith. But he warned them against neglecting human relationships in their pursuit of clicks and followers, and cautioned them to not fall prey to fake news and the 'frivolity' of online encounters.
Korea Herald
6 days ago
- Korea Herald
Wallis Annenberg, billionaire philanthropist who backed arts, science and other causes, dies at 86
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wallis Annenberg, the billionaire philanthropist who supported the arts, science, education and animal welfare causes over decades in Los Angeles, died Monday, her family said. She was 86. Annenberg died at home from complications related to lung cancer, the family said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. "Wallis transitioned peacefully and comfortable this morning to her new adventure," the statement said. "Cancer may have beaten her body but it never got her spirit. We will hold her and her wisdom in our hearts forever." Her name adorns institutions across the Los Angeles area, including the Wallis Annenberg Building at the California Science Center, the Wallis Annenberg GenSpace senior center and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, the world's largest bridge for animals on the move, will open next year over an LA freeway. During her 16-year tenure as president and chief executive of the Annenberg Foundation, the nonprofit organization has donated about $1.5 billion to thousands of organizations in Southern California, the Times reported. Under Wallis Annenberg's leadership, the foundation expanded its philanthropic scope beyond media, arts and education to include animal welfare, environmental conservation and healthcare. Her father, Walter Annenberg, started the foundation after selling his publishing empire, including TV Guide and other publications, in 1989 to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Walter Annenberg died in 2002. Wallis Annenberg was a longtime board member of LA's Museum of Contemporary Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA. In 2002, she gave $10 million to endow LACMA's director position. "Wallis Annenberg blessed the Los Angeles community not only with her philanthropy, but also with her guidance about how to improve our community," said LACMA Chief Executive Michael Govan, who filled that endowed position in 2006. Born in Philadelphia, she moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s after marrying neurosurgeon Seth Weingarten. The couple divorced in 1975. Wallis Annenberg received the 2022 National Humanities Medal from President Joe Biden for her life in philanthropy.
Korea Herald
27-07-2025
- Korea Herald
Mexico City marks 700 years since its founding by Indigenous people
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City is marking the 700th anniversary of its founding with a series of public events on Saturday, including artistic performances honoring the city's Indigenous origins. Artists in Indigenous clothing reenacted the founding of the Aztec capital in front of the country's top officials in Mexico City's main square. Later, hundreds of dancers dressed in traditional clothing, feather headdresses, drums, and ankle rattles made of seeds performed sacred dances meant to connect with nature. The anniversary commemorates the establishment of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Mexica, a group also known as the Aztecs, who settled in the Valley of Mexico in 1325. As recorded by early Spanish chroniclers, Mexica elders told of a divine sign from their patron god Huitzilopochtli: an eagle on a cactus, signaling where to settle. That place became Tenochtitlan, the center of Aztec civilization and the site of today's Mexico City. That symbol was later recorded in the Codex Mendoza, which contained historical accounts of the Aztec empire. It became central to Mexican identity and appears today on the national flag. "Mexico was not born with the arrival of the Spanish; Mexico was born much earlier with the great civilizations," said President Claudia Sheinbaum in a speech in which she urged the eradication of the racism that still persists in the country. Tenochtitlan began as a village on an island in a lake ringed by volcanic peaks. But historians say many other details that have come down in history are based heavily on legend, and that the exact founding date is unknown. By the time the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, they were awed by a city filled with palaces, bridges, canals and bustling trade, according to Spanish chronicler and conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Historian Miguel Pastrana of the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Historic Investigations Institute, an expert on Tenochtitlan, said the weekend's festivities are "political and civic" and do not reflect the latest historical research. The historical record describes the Mexica as a people who migrated from a place called Aztlan, supposedly an island whose exact location remains unknown. They knew how to fish, gather aquatic plants and hunt birds, as well as build dams, and they tried to settle in several places before arriving in the Valley of Mexico. The main island in the lake was already populated by the Tepaneca people, but they allowed the Mexica to settle there in exchange for tribute payments and other services, Pastrana said. Little by little, the Mexica's power grew. They were strong warriors and commercially prosperous, and they were effective at making alliances with other peoples.
