Israel strikes Yemen after Houthis fire cluster munition for first time

The Israel Defense Forces attacked several key locations in Yemen on Sunday, including in the capital Sanaa and the port city of Hodeidah, following the first-ever cluster missile fired by the Houthis at Israel on Friday night.

The IDF said the targets included a military compound housing the presidential palace, the Asar and Hizaz power plants, and a fuel storage facility, all of which were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to support its attacks.

“The use of these plants constitutes further proof of how the Houthi regime uses civilian infrastructure for military purposes,” said the IDF.

The strikes were in response to “repeated attacks by the Houthi terrorist regime against the State of Israel and its civilians, including the launching of surface-to-surface missiles and UAVs toward Israeli territory in recent days,” added the military.

The IDF noted that the Houthis operate under Iranian direction and funding to target Israel and its allies, and exploit the maritime domain to project power and conduct attacks against global shipping and trade routes.

“The Houthi terror regime is learning the hard way that it will pay and is paying a very heavy price for its aggression against the State of Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday night.

“Anyone who attacks us—we attack them. Anyone planning to attack us—we attack them. I believe the entire region is learning the power and determination of the State of Israel,” he continued.

Added Defense Minister Israel Katz: “For every missile the Houthis launch at Israel, they will pay with compound interest.”

On Sunday, the Israeli Air Force revealed that the Houthis launched a cluster munition for the first time at the Jewish state, just after Shabbat began.

The IDF spokesman said on Sunday that “the missed interception last Friday is being investigated and is not related to the type of missile that was launched.

“The air defense systems, with an emphasis on the upper layer, know how to deal with and intercept missiles of this type, as they have intercepted [them] in the past,” the spokesman said.

(Upper layer air defense systems are designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles at high altitude, including outside the atmosphere.)

It was initially suspected that Israel failed to intercept the missile because it had fragmented in mid-air. One piece fell into a backyard but no one was hurt.

The missile contained a warhead with 22 small, armed bombs, which explode when they fall. It’s an identical missile to one fired by the Iranians at Israeli territory in June, Israeli news site N12 reported.

Last Sunday, the IDF targeted a power station in the Sanaa area. According to reports, the Israeli Navy carried out the strike, marking the second time naval forces have been used against the Iranian-backed group instead of the Air Force. On June 10, Israeli missile boats targeted terror sites at the port of Hodeidah.

The Houthis have been launching missile and drone attacks on the Jewish state—including a hit near Ben-Gurion International Airport on May 4—since the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7, 2023.