The Yemen-based Houthi terror group has launched approximately 320 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and 40 missiles at Israel since the October 7 terror massacre, the IDF website announced on Thursday. That same day, the Houthi added to the count with multiple UAVs launched at Israel, at least one of which was intercepted by Israel.
In response, Israel launched another long-distance assault on Houthi military assets. The IDF page on X (formerly Twitter) said on Friday that among other targets, the IDF hit two ports “containing Houthi military infrastructure” and a power station that serves as a “central source of energy for the Houthi terrorist regime in its military activities.”
The IDF Hebrew page on X as translated by Google, which included a video of Israel intercepting a Houthi UAV on Thursday, also said the targets of the Friday Israeli strikes “illustrate the military use of civilian infrastructure by the Houthi terrorist regime for terrorism.”
Following the Israeli counterstrike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in comments published by Israel, “Just as we promised, the Houthis are paying—and will continue to pay—a heavy price for their aggression against us.
…I reiterate: We will not tolerate attacks on our citizens and on our country. We will take determined and forceful action against anyone who threatens the State of Israel wherever and whenever necessary.”
The Houthi have proven to be a deadly threat to Israel over the last 15 months, although their repeated attacks have mostly been thwarted or come up short. According to the IDF, most of the 40 Houthi surface-to-surface missile attacks over the last year-plus have been intercepted, although one projectile fell in Israel and fragments of another two partial interceptions landed in the area.
Of the 320 UAVs fired at Israel, the IDF has intercepted 100 of them. Two have registered hits in Israel—including the one that killed an Israeli in his apartment in Tel Aviv—while the others either failed to reach Israel, landed in open areas, or caused “no significant damage” according to the IDF.
IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani commented on the numerous Houhti attacks against Israel in his own post on X, saying the Houthi “are an Iranian proxy with one of their main goals being to destroy Israel and our people.”
However, it’s not just Israel that has been a common Houhti target since Hamas killed around 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped hundreds more on October 7, 2023. International shipping has also come under fire from the Houthi, a fact noted on the IDF X post on the latest Israeli counterstrike.
Said the IDF post, “The Houthi terrorist regime is a central part of the Iranian axis of terror, and their attacks on international shipping vessels and routes continue to destabilize the region and the wider world.
“The IDF will continue to operate at any distance against any threat to the State of Israel and its citizens.”
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, January 12, 2025)