Houthis Defiant After Unprecedented Israeli Naval Attack
The Houthis will keep carrying out military operations against Israel in support for Gaza, a spokesperson said, dismissing the impact of Tuesday's unprecedented naval attack on the Hodeida port in Yemen. Israel had previously struck only from the air.
Newsweek has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.
The port attack comes as the Yemeni Houthis have defied Israel by targeted its Ben Gurion international airport with ballistic missiles, including one last month that the Israeli missile defense systems failed to intercept, causing a brief disruption of air traffic.
Israel is currently facing the Houthi threat alone after the United States signed a ceasefire agreement with the Iranian-backed rebel group, which has in the past disrupted maritime navigation through the Red Sea and whose capabilities were not neutralized despite heavy U.S. airstrikes for over a month.
Nasruddin Amer, Head of Houthi-controlled Saba News Agency said the recent Israeli port attack has "no significant impact" on the group's "preparations for escalation and expansion of operations deep inside the Zionist enemy entity," he wrote on his X account in a reference to Israel.
"It has no impact even on the morale of our people who take to the streets weekly by the millions in support of Gaza," he added. In a separate post, Amer alleged that Israel carried a naval aggression to avoid air force defeat by the Houthis.
The IDF said that the navy's operational flexibility with close range strikes had allowed it to hit targets at Hodeida port that the air force had struggled to neutralize in around 10 prior airstrikes on the Houthis since mid-2024, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The Houthis have warned international vessels from carrying weapons to Israel through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab with the threat of possible attacks.
The Houthis say they are acting in support of Gaza, which has been devastated by an Israeli offensive since Hamas launched an attack on Israel from there in October 2023.
Nasrudding Amer wrote on X: "Have the skies of Yemen become closed to American, Zionist and other aircraft?! The coming days will answer these questions and others."
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on X: "Israeli Navy Missile Ships struck terror targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in the Hudaydah Port in Yemen. These strikes were conducted in response to repeated missile and UAV attacks on Israeli territory. The Hudaydah Port is used to transfer weapons and to exploit civilian infrastructure in order to advance terrorist activities."
The Houthis have vowed to uphold a naval blockade on Israel-linked vessels passing through the Red Sea as well as attacks targeting Ben Gurion airport, with Israel pledging to deliver a powerful response.
Related Articles
Trump Changes Top Middle East General For Strong Iran HawkFive Signs Israel and Iran Could Be Headed Toward Open WarTrump Reshapes the Middle East with Israel's FoesHouthis Send Warning on Trump Middle East Visit
2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
29 minutes ago
- New York Times
World Central Kitchen Resumes Gaza Operations After Nearly 7-Week Pause
World Central Kitchen, the charity founded by the celebrity chef José Andrés, has resumed operations in Gaza almost seven weeks after pausing cooking and distributing meals because of Israel's blockade of the enclave. The charity said in a statement that it cooked nearly 10,000 meals on Saturday, its first day of operations after it was able to deliver aid to its teams in Gaza for the first time in more than 12 weeks. World Central Kitchen suspended its work in Gaza on May 7, saying that it had run out of supplies to cook meals or make bread after Israel imposed a near total shutdown of aid deliveries, starting in March, that lasted almost three months. Israeli officials defended the blockade, saying it was intended to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons or diverting aid supplies. But the United Nations and other international aid agencies criticized some of the measures as a form of collective punishment and warned of a growing hunger crisis because of the restrictions. They also said that Israel had not provided evidence that Hamas had systematically diverted aid. 'This pause marked a devastating moment in our response, cutting off a vital source of daily nourishment for families already facing extreme hardship,' World Central Kitchen said in its statement, adding that it had prepared and served more than 133 million meals in Gaza since October 2023. Last year, the group halted operations for nearly a month after Israel hit a convoy and killed seven of its workers, a strike that prompted widespread international condemnation. The Israeli military said that a number of failures, including a breakdown in communications and violations of the military's rules of engagement, had led to the attacks, and it dismissed two officers. Many families in Gaza have relied heavily on charities such as World Central Kitchen for meals as staple foods have become scarce and fuel for cooking has become nearly impossible to obtain. But much of the wider aid infrastructure in Gaza remains nonoperational since Israel began to allow some supplies to be delivered in mid-May, mostly under a new distribution system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The beginning of the Israeli and U.S.-backed system has been chaotic, with scores of Palestinians killed as they tried to get food packages. 'Far too many people have died while trying to access the trickle of food aid coming in,' the U.N. World Food Program said in a statement this past week. 'Only a massive scale-up in food distributions can stabilize the situation, calm anxieties, and rebuild the trust within communities that more food is coming.' Abdel Nasser al-Ajrami, head of Gaza's bakers' union, said that the U.N.-supported kitchens across the territory remained out of service. We are unable to operate the bakeries because people are too desperate, making it nearly impossible to manage the constant chaos,' he said.
USA Today
30 minutes ago
- USA Today
US bombs Iran: Trump's gamble: Nuclear threat ended? Or the start of 'endless war'?
It's Donald Trump's war now. The decision to bomb Iran revealed the conflict between some of the president's fundamental impulses. The highest hope of President Donald Trump's bombing of Iran: A rogue nuclear program that had defied a half-dozen of his predecessors has finally been destroyed. The deepest fear: Just four years after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan ended America's longest war, the United States is now enmeshed in another war in a volatile region, with perilous and uncertain consequences. "Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's No. 1 state sponsor of terror," Trump said in a late-night announcement in the East Room on June 21, interrupting Americans' Saturday night plans with news that B-2 bombers had dropped the world's most powerful conventional bombs on three sites considered crucial to Tehran's nuclear program. "Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace." Watch Trump's address to the nation after US bombed Iranian nuke sites More: US on 'high alert' for Iran retaliation, says nuke program 'obliterated' That's the calculation behind "Operation Midnight Hammer," anyway − that despite its initial bluster, Tehran will be forced to abandon its nuclear program. But Trump acknowledged there were other possibilities. "Remember, there are many targets left," he said, surrounded by a solemn-looking trio of advisers − Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. "If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speech and skill." A war between Trump's fundamental impulses The White House debate over whether to launch the bombers put at odds some of Trump's most fundamental impulses. One is his fervent opposition in all three of his presidential campaigns against "forever wars," including the costly and controversial conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. His "America First" agenda reflects a determination to focus less on places like Ukraine and more on challenges close to home. Though most Republican congressional leaders praised the president for the decision, some people prominent in the MAGA movement did not. "This is not our fight," Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene complained on social media. "Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war." On the other hand, Trump is also famously impatient with problems that have frustrated standard solutions. Witness, for instance, his willingness to press the limits of the law in identifying and deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. The lengthy efforts at negotiation with Iran, like much of diplomacy, seemed unlikely to reach the sort of dramatic and decisive conclusion he favors. The bombing of Iran also reflects his alliance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who argues that Iran's nuclear program poses an existential threat to his country. For the prime minister, achieving his decades-old dream of destroying that program is the stuff of legacy. It's the stuff of Trump's legacy, too − a powerful message for a president who cannot run for the Oval Office again. Netanyahu struck that chord. "Congratulations, President Trump," he said in Tel Aviv. "His leadership today has created a pivot in history that can help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future of prosperity and peace." Congressional leaders notified as planes headed home For better or worse, this will be Trump's war. For one thing, he didn't seek the approval of Congress, which under the Constitution has the right to declare war, though the president has broad authority to order the use of military force. The War Powers Act, passed after President Richard Nixon's secret bombing of Cambodia during the Vietnam War, requires presidents to notify Congress and limits the length of deployments. After the U.S. bombers had left Iranian airspace, the administration immediately notified congressional leaders, Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing early June 22. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Trump had risked dragging the United States into a long war "without consulting Congress, without a clear strategy, without regard to the consistent conclusions of the intelligence community, and without explaining to the American people what's at stake." Those will be the elements of the debate ahead, in echoes of the Iraq War. How serious was the Iranian nuclear threat? And how will voters weigh the stakes and the cost? In Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Trump of having "deceived his own voters" by launching a strike despite his campaign promises. The U.S. administration holds "sole and full responsibility for the consequences of its actions," he said. But he didn't specify whether Iran would retaliate against U.S. forces in the region. Hours after the bunker-buster bombs were dropped, Iran launched a new round of missiles toward Israel. On June 23, the foreign minister plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally but one who has his own war to fight.
San Francisco Chronicle
33 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
UK government says it will ban pro-Palestinian group after activists broke into military base
LONDON (AP) — Britain's government said Monday it will ban the pro-Palestinian activist group Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws after the group's members broke into a military base and vandalized two planes last week. The measure means it will be a criminal offense to belong to or support the group, with a maximum of 14 years in prison. It came as protesters in support of Palestine Action clashed with police during a demonstration in central London. Officials said two of the group's members entered the Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton on Wednesday and damaged two planes with red paint. The group released video footage appearing to show one of the activists spraying the paint into a jet's turbine engines. The group alleged that Britain was continuing to 'send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel U.S./Israeli fighter jets,' and condemned the country as "an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.' The base incident was being investigated by counter-terror police. Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley described Palestine Action as an 'organized extremist criminal group,' while Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the protest at the airbase was the latest in the group's 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage.' She said the group's recent actions, including an attack against a defense factory in Glasgow in 2022, have resulted in damage that runs into millions of pounds. In March, Palestine Action targeted one of U.S. President Donald Trump's golf resorts in Scotland, painting 'Gaza is Not For Sale' in giant letters on the lawn in response to his proposal to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population. The government said a draft order will be laid in Parliament next week. Lawmakers still need to approve it. Britain's government has proscribed about 80 organizations, including Hamas and al-Qaida, and far-right groups such as National Action.
