Israel attacks Yemeni ports, warns Houthi leader

West Australian

16-05-2025

Israel has struck Yemen's Red Sea ports of Hodeidah and Salif, continuing its campaign to degrade Houthi military capabilities and warning the group's top leader could be targeted if attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthis have continued to fire missiles at Israel in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, although they have agreed to halt attacks on US ships.
Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes in response, including one on May 6 that damaged Yemen's main airport in Sanaa and killed several people.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it dropped more than 30 munitions on Houthi targets in its eighth such attack. It said the ports of Hodeidah and Salif were being used to transfer weapons, reiterating its warnings to residents of those areas to evacuate.
The Israeli strikes killed at least one person and injured nine, the Houthi-run health ministry said in a statement.
Residents in Hodeidah said they heard four loud booms and saw smoke rising from the port following the strikes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement they would hunt down the Houthis' top leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi.
"If the Houthis continue to fire missiles at the State of Israel, they will be severely harmed, and we will also hurt the leaders," they said, adding that al-Houthi could join the list of militant figures killed by Israel, such as Hamas' Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a senior group figure, described the Israeli threats as "illusions", saying on X that they were aimed at buying time by setting "unattainable goals."
The Houthis are part of Iran's so-called "Axis of Resistance" against Israeli and US interests in the Middle East, alongside Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
About 60 per cent of the Yemeni population lives under their control.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, the Houthis have launched dozens of missile and drone attacks toward Israel, most of which have been intercepted or landed short.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is working on a plan to permanently relocate as many as one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, NBC News reported on Friday, citing five people with knowledge of the matter.
Citing two people with direct knowledge and a former US official, NBC also reported the plan is under serious enough consideration that the US has discussed it with Libya's leadership.
In exchange for resettling the Palestinians, the administration would release to Libya billions of dollars of funds the US froze more than a decade ago, according to NBC and citing the same three people.