A few minutes before 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 28, a massive explosion shook the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Simultaneously, somewhere in the IDF, a slight sigh of relief was heard, but considerable time would pass before tension levels in the room subsided somewhat, and days would pass before all the results of the operation became clear.
An extended effort by thousands of soldiers and officers, in the air and naval forces and intelligence, undoubtedly reached a milestone. “Operation Drop of Luck” will be remembered as the deadliest strike the Houthi leadership in Yemen ever sustained.
“When there are opportunities, you need to know how to exploit them,” said Lt. Col. T., head of the strike branch of the Israeli Air Force, who is responsible for planning and managing the campaign in the Yemeni arena.
“There was an opportunity here that served a greater purpose. I don’t think there has been such an operation in the past two years, or anything similar to the scale we’ve had in other rounds, in other countries.
“This is an event that destabilizes the enemy, regardless of the circumstances. Will it disrupt the missiles that will arrive? Probably not. But it does shake the system. This was a demonstration of the State of Israel’s power,” said T.
“Going out to strike in Yemen means considering the time dimension, the complexity of getting there, and the number of unknown scenarios you have on the way,” explained the senior officer.
“Strong cooperation between intelligence and the air force is required for this to be conducted properly at all. In the end, at the tip, there are crews of pilots dropping bombs with a huge envelope behind them, supporting, preparing. These are refuelers, these are rescue capabilities, this is intelligence. It’s an operation to refuel several aircraft multiple times en route, ensuring they arrive with sufficient fuel to execute the mission. It’s between five and six hours,” reported T.
‘A stone fell from our hearts’
“Behind every operation and strike sit the sharpest minds from the intelligence community working day and night to enable crazy operations and strikes in Yemen. This is the fruit of close and full cooperation between the entire intelligence community,” emphasized Lt. L., an officer in the air force intelligence community who researches aerial threats.
“We sat and waited anxiously until the moment of impact, and waited until the pilots exited the threat line. There, a stone fell from our hearts, and we knew we had succeeded in our mission,” said L.
Behind the strikes in Yemen stands, among others, the Deep Operations Division, which was established around January and is being revealed here for the first time.
Master Sgt. M., who served in the unit, said that the understanding was that there was an operational need to deal specifically with the Yemeni arena. This involved a small number of people who began coordinating the efforts of the IAF, Israeli Navy, intelligence and other entities. The goal is to organize and plan all strikes in the arena.
This includes planning the activation of special means that will neutralize air defense threats or extreme scenarios of a malfunction in one of the aircraft.
According to operations officer M., “There are always thoughts that something could fail, even in the simplest strikes that were supposedly the least dangerous.
Strikes against Yemen are the most-distant operations the IAF has carried out to date, even farther than Iran in some cases. There is always a fear of failure, whether it involves an aircraft malfunction or an intelligence failure, M. pointed out.
This week, a mass funeral was held in Sanaa, where the Houthis acknowledged the unprecedented blow they sustained. In the hall where ministers had gathered to watch the speech of leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi was killed along with at least nine Cabinet members: Foreign Minister Jamal Amer, Communications Minister Hisham Sharaf, Justice Minister Mujahid Ahmed Ali, Economy Minister Moein al-Mahaqri, Agriculture Minister Radwan Ali al-Rabai, Electricity Minister Ali Saif Hassan, Culture and Tourism Minister Qasem Hussein al-Yafei, Labor Minister Samir Bajalah and Sports Minister Ahmed al-Mawlad.
Besides these senior officials, Prime Minister’s Office chief Mohammed al-Kabsi and government secretary Zahid al-Amdi were also killed.
Contrary to wartime logic, dozens of terror regime senior officials gathered in one place, including the two most senior military commanders—Chief of Staff Mohammed Abdul-Karim al-Ghamari and Defense Minister Mohammed al-Atifi.
According to reports in Yemen, both men were wounded in the strike and hospitalized in serious condition. As of this writing, the IDF is awaiting completion of the operation’s results assessment. However, Houthi opponents in Yemen already report about 20 dead and dozens wounded.
Strike the Houthi command chain
“According to intelligence indications, we understood it was possible to exploit a specific meeting and strike the Houthi command chain and government,” said Lt. L. “In a very short time-frame, we managed to execute the operation.
“It was a challenging mission because the route is very long. The main threat is the Houthis’ air defense missiles. These are advanced surface-to-air missile batteries with Iranian funding, which we know are deployed throughout Yemen. They managed to shoot down quite a few American drones during the war,” she said.
Since the U.S. began strikes against Yemen, the Houthis have claimed to have shot down 16 advanced MQ-9 Reaper drones (sometimes called Predator Bs). The cost of each such aircraft reaches tens of millions of dollars, and cumulatively, this represents financial damage of hundreds of millions of dollars.
It’s quite possible this was one of the reasons the U.S. administration preferred a ceasefire. Obviously, when it comes to manned aircraft, the risk is incomparably greater.
For more than a decade, the Houthis have inflicted terror on Yemen, which has become a desolate and famine-stricken land, despite the regional coalition formed against them. Even Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ultimately settled for a fragile ceasefire.
And now, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik announced the terrorist organization will continue launching drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, and even increase them despite the severe blow.
Sources in Sanaa told the Beirut-based newspaper Al Akhbar that they will try to strike IDF headquarters, ministers’ offices, and even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence.
They didn’t settle for words, and this week they fired a ballistic missile at a ship that Israeli businessman Idan Ofer indirectly and partially owns. At the same time, missiles fired toward Israel fell on their way here, and several drones were intercepted.
“This militia has become exposed, disintegrating, and stands before its inevitable end,” declared this week, somewhat optimistically, Yemen’s legitimate government’s information minister in Aden, Muammar al-Eryani.
“The Houthis have quite a few enemies who don’t like them,” clarified Lt. Col. T., “We’re not the only ones. We’d like to reach a situation where the surrounding countries enter and take responsibility.”
This point is important because the Iranian axis increasingly struggles to assist the Houthis, let alone Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose advisers helped them considerably in Yemen’s civil war.
“It’s not that the strike on Iran will affect the launches we’re experiencing,” explains the senior officer, “but in the end, when you finish ‘Operation Rising Lion,’ and you’ve struck Hezbollah and you’re in a different situation in Syria, when the Houthis need their backing, and their head was the Iranian head managing the entire event—you see it hurts them logistically. It hurts their connections, interfaces, and puts you in a different place.”
Lt. L. added: “In ‘Operation Rising Lion’ [the 12-day war in June] not only was Iran hit, but the whole pro-Iranian axis. The damage reverberates slowly—whether in funding, which is already difficult to bring in due to our strikes, or in the Iranians’ attention in all Middle East arenas.”
However, she warned: “The Houthis are very creative and find ways to manage and be independent. They believe in themselves, in their capabilities, including self-production. They note that every ballistic missile they launch is self-produced. When they shot down American drones, they announced that the surface-to-air missiles were self-produced.”
According to her, the Houthis have almost unstoppable motivation: “Death to America and death to Israel are engraved on their flag. So they learn and study, and each time change slightly. We learn to adapt to this reality and find the most effective way to respond.”
Nevertheless, the IDF has identified damage to the Houthis’ terror regime beyond the targeted killings.
“We set several goals. The first is to strike and create an aerial and naval blockade, thereby causing economic damage and inflicting political damage,” said the senior officer. “If you look at the past year, most of what we struck were targets like ports, airports and national infrastructure. These are things that hurt the Houthis’ political component more.”
Do you see this destabilizing them?
“Yes. We need to be precise. It won’t make them stop launching missiles at Israel, but does this destabilize them? Does this disrupt their routine and daily life? Does it create things for us? The answer is yes.
“Since our strikes on airports, there are almost no flights entering the Houthi side in Yemen. This hurts trade and international connections. Same with the port.”
According to Lt. Col. T., “In the future the intention is to reach a situation where we increase their pain. As time passes, we develop better capabilities and intelligence and cause significant military damage. The second thing we’re trying to do is reduce fire on Israel, to protect civilians.”
What can the State of Israel do to the Houthis that the Saudi coalition or Americans didn’t do in the previous decade?
“All respect to the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, but there are aspects in Israeli-Jewish intelligence, in the air force and military, that are ours.
“We’ve proven this in several other arenas. We’ve managed to reach achievements, and I believe that if we want to collapse this enemy in such and such time—we’ll be able to get there.”
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
