Netanyahu Threatens to ‘Act with Force’ Against Yemen’s Houthis

JERUSALEM:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would “act with force” against the Houthi group in Yemen, a day after the group launched a missile toward the Tel Aviv area.

“Just as we acted with force against Iran’s (other) allies, we will act against the Houthis,” Netanyahu said in a video statement on Sunday.

He emphasised that Israel was not acting alone, noting that the United States and other nations share the same view with Israel that the Houthis are posing “a threat not only to international shipping but to the global order.”

“Hence, we will act with strength, determination, and ingenuity,” Netanyahu added. “Even if it takes time, the outcome will be the same as with other terrorist groups.”

Netanyahu’s comments came a day after a ballistic missile launched by the Iran-backed group exploded in a playground in south Tel Aviv on Saturday, wounding 16 and causing extensive damage after attempts to intercept it failed, Xinhua news agency reported.

A Houthi missile hit a playground and a building in Tel Aviv overnight between Friday and Saturday, injuring people and causing building damage, according to the latest update from Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service.

The Houthi attack followed a series of Israeli airstrikes on Thursday, which targeted Yemen’s capital Sanaa as well as the ports of Hodeidah, As-Salif, and Ras Issa. The strikes, which the Israeli military said were aimed at Houthi infrastructure, killed at least nine people.

It was the second time in as many days that a Houthi missile sparked sirens in the country’s center in the middle of the night, after a warhead launched on Thursday was partially intercepted outside Israeli airspace and crashed into an empty school building in the city of Ramat Gan, again causing severe damage but no injuries.