Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ephraim Defrin said on Sunday that the military was awaiting the results of a Saturday strike targeting Houthi leaders in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets on Saturday night “operated through the air corridor we paved to the heart of Iran, alongside strikes also in Yemen,” Defrin said in a Hebrew-language update on “Operation Rising Lion.”
“Last night, while attacks in Iran continued, air force fighter jets took off more than 2,000 kilometers [1,243 miles] from the territory of the State of Israel and also struck in Sanaa in Yemen,” continued the spokesman.
“We will update later with the results of the strike,” Defrin concluded.
The target of the strike was the military chief of the Iranian-backed terrorist organization, Muhammad al-Ghamari, anonymous Israeli officials told Hebrew media on Saturday evening.
Some media reports suggested that al-Ghamari was believed to have been meeting with other top Houthi leaders at the time of the attack.
The Houthis have escalated their aerial attacks on Israel in recent weeks, including a direct hit near Ben-Gurion International Airport on May 4.
Overnight Saturday, the Houthis launched at least one ballistic missile toward Tel Aviv, in what the terror group said was its first simultaneous attack coordinated with the Islamic Republic.
“Triumphing for the oppressed Palestinian and Iranian peoples ... this operation was coordinated with the operations carried out by the Iranian army against the criminal Israeli enemy,” it stated.
At least 10 people were killed overnight Saturday in a wave of Iranian missile attacks on civilian areas across Israel. Nearly 80 missiles were fired in two barrages, Hebrew media reported on Sunday. About 40 missiles were fired at the north, while 35 missiles targeted the center.
