Houthi Leader Threatens To Reply To Israeli Air Attack On Yemen's Hodeidah

JAKARTA - The Houthi leader confirmed that he would respond to Israeli airstrikes near the Yemeni Hodeidah.

Israeli fighter jets attacked a Houthi military target near the port of Hodeidah Yemen on Saturday, July 20, killing at least nine people and injuring 87 people, a day after the Houthi drone hit Israeli economic center Tel Aviv.

"The response is unavoidable," said Abdulmalik al-Houthi as quoted by Reuters, Thursday, July 25.

The group's attack on Israel as a form of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza will continue and will not be hindered by Israeli airstrikes, he added.

Everything that happens on the part of Israel's enemies will be a bigger incentive to take revenge, "said al-Houthi.

As previously reported, Israeli fighter jets attacked a Houthi military target in the Hodeidah port area in Yemen on Saturday, July 20.

The attack came a day after a drone launched by an Iran-backed group hit Israel's Tel Aviv economic center.

Hodeidah residents told Reuters by telephone the explosions were heard across the city during intensive bombings.

Meanwhile, Al-Masirah TV reported that civilian defense forces and firefighters were trying to extinguish the fire in the port's oil tank.

An Israeli military spokesman said the port was used by the Houthis to receive arms shipments from Iran.

Its targets, which are more than 1,700 km (1,056 miles) from Israel, cover locations with multiple use such as energy infrastructure, he said.