U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke twice on Saturday with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant following the Houthi attack on Tel Aviv that killed an Israeli civilian and wounded others, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters on Monday.
“We were given a brief advance notice, and I’ll just leave it at that,” Ryder said of Israel’s retaliatory attack on Houthi targets in Yemen.
“During their discussion, Secretary Austin acknowledged Israel’s action followed months of Houthi attacks against the State of Israel and reaffirmed the ironclad commitment of the United States to Israel’s security and right to self-defense,” Ryder told reporters.
“There was no U.S. involvement [in] or coordination with the strikes,” he added. “I would refer you to the Israelis for any questions about their operations.”
The Israeli Air Force on Sunday afternoon published video footage of Saturday’s “Operation Long Arm,” in which fighter jets attacked a series of terrorist targets in Yemen’s Houthi-held port city of Hodaydah.
The military released cockpit footage showing the apparent destruction of cranes and an oil terminal used by the Iranian-backed terrorist group.
“We see the cranes,” one of the pilots who participated in the attack can be heard saying, before another confirms, “Everything is dismantled.”
The Israel Defense Forces also published a video showing the fighter jets refueling during the 2,250-mile round trip to western Yemen, as well as footage of the planes landing after the mission.
The IAF confirmed that it struck “dual-use infrastructure used for terrorist activities, including energy infrastructures,” as part of Saturday’s attack, which came after a Houthi suicide drone killed one Israeli civilian and wounded several others in Tel Aviv the previous day.
The strikes appeared to be the first on Yemeni soil since the terrorist group joined the war against Israel in support of Hamas last year.
A Hezbollah spokesman said on Tuesday that the Houthis are planning a “fifth stage” in their war against Israel, which will include gas rigs and energy facilities.
The representative from Iran’s Lebanese terror proxy told the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Akhbar newspaper that Iran’s terror proxy in Yemen plans “surprise operations in areas that have not been reached so far, also an escalation in attacks on Israeli ships and those related to Israel. It will also include new, advanced, high-quality, long-range weapons that cannot be intercepted.”
The gas and energy targets are planned in retaliation for the Israeli attack in Yemen and include the Leviathan and Tamar natural gas fields in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel.
During Monday’s conference, Ryder was asked when Austin last spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden, who announced on Sunday that he wasn’t seeking re-election.
Ryder said that the U.S. defense secretary and Biden “engage regularly,” and that “the secretary was notified briefly after the announcement.”
“The White House notified cabinet officials, and so the secretary was not notified in advance,” Ryder said. “But as I mentioned, they engage regularly, so we’ll keep you posted.”
“The White House conducted a call with cabinet officials after the announcement, shortly after the announcement, of which the secretary was notified,” he added. “I’d refer you to the White House for any other questions on that piece.”