Tel Aviv, Sept 16: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to exact a “heavy price” from Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen over Sunday morning’s missile attack. “We are in a multi-arena campaign against Iran’s evil axis that strives to destroy us,” Netanyahu said at the beginning of the weekly Cabinet meeting.“This morning, the Houthis launched a surface-to-surface missile from Yemen into our territory. They should have known by now that we exact a heavy price for any attempt to harm us.
Those who need a reminder in this matter are invited to visit the port of Hudaydah.” Israeli air defenses failed in multiple attempts to bring down the missile. Explosions in the sky triggered red alert sirens in numerous communities in central Israel.
Nobody was injured, but shrapnel landed on a train station in Modiin. Magen David Adom said six people suffered minor injuries while making their way to protected areas. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they fired a hypersonic missile at Tel Aviv.
The attack was the first since July 20, when Israel struck Yemen’s Red Sea port of Al Hudaydah in retaliation for a drone attack on Tel Aviv that killed one Israeli and injured seven. Israel’s strike destroyed weapons storage facilities, a power generating station and oil refinery and storage site.
Since October, the Houthis have launched hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel. The Houthis vowed in early December to target any Israel-bound ship in the Red Sea, regardless of its ownership.
They have attacked or harassed numerous ships, hijacked the MV Galaxy Leader in November and are holding its crew of 25 hostage.
From bases along the Yemeni coast, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels have threatened ships in the Red Sea as they traverse the Bab el-Mandeb Straits, a narrow maritime choke point between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.
The majority of the world’s oil passes through the strait from the Indian Ocean towards the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.