Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to retaliate against Yemen’s Houthi rebels after they fired a missile at Tel Aviv, warning that Israel would target what he described as the last remaining arm of “Iran’s axis of evil”.

The Houthis struck Israel’s commercial hub on Saturday with what they claimed was a ballistic missile, injuring 16 people and forcing many to leave their homes following the pre-dawn attack.

“As we acted with force against the terrorist arms of Iran’s axis of evil, so we will act against the Houthis… with force, determination and sophistication,” Netanyahu said in a video statement.

Saturday’s strike on Tel Aviv was the second such attack on Israel by the Houthis this week, and one of several since the war in Gaza broke out.

The Iranian-backed Houthis say they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians as the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza rages on.

The war began on October 7, 2023, following Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel.

Netanyahu’s latest comments came after the United States said it struck targets in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa on Saturday, hours after the Houthis hit Tel Aviv.

Among the targets was a Houthi missile storage centre and a “command-and-control facility,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

US forces also shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea, it said.

However, two US Navy pilots were shot down over the Red Sea early Sunday in “an apparent case of friendly fire,” the US military said.

The Houthis later claimed they had “targeted” the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman a day earlier in an operation that led to “shooting down an F-18 aircraft”.

‘Not alone’ against Houthis

US and British forces have repeatedly struck rebel targets in Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which are vital to global trade.

Israel has also previously struck the Houthis in Yemen, including hitting ports and energy facilities, after rebel attacks against its territory.

The latest Israeli strike against the Houthis was on Thursday, with Israeli warplanes striking Sanaa for the first time.

The Israeli response came soon after the rebels fired a missile that damaged an Israeli school.

On Sunday, Netanyahu acknowledged Washington’s backing, saying that Israel was “not alone” in its fight against the Houthis.

“The US, as well as other countries, see the Houthis as a threat not only to international shipping – but to the international order”, Netanyahu said in his video statement.

In a similar statement issued earlier this week, Netanyahu said the Houthis would “pay a very heavy price” for their attacks on Israel.

“After Hamas, Hezbollah and the (Bashar al-)Assad regime in Syria, the Huthis are almost the last arm of Iran’s axis of evil,” he said.

“They are finding out, and will find out, the hard way that whoever harms Israel — will pay a very heavy price.”

As well as Hamas, Israel has fought Iran-backed groups across the region since the start of the war in Gaza, including the Huthis in Yemen and a full-blown war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Those campaigns have killed several leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, including the mastermind of the October 7 attack, Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, as well as Iranian commanders.

Israel also assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, while Sinwar’s predecessor Ismail Haniyeh was killed in a brazen attack in Tehran, which Iran and Hamas have blamed on Israel.

Israel further shocked Hezbollah with attacks involving exploding pagers and walkie-talkies that killed dozens of its fighters and wounded thousands, according to Lebanese authorities.

In late November, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire, which has stopped the former’s blistering bombing campaign inside Lebanon but Israeli troops are still operating in southern parts of the neighbouring country.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today sent a stern warning to anyone “doubting” Israel after Israeli warplanes killed three people in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeida.

The strikes on the key port are the first claimed by Israel in the Arabian peninsula’s poorest country and came in “direct response” to Iran-backed rebels’ drone attack in Tel Aviv on Friday that killed an Israeli civilian.

“I have a simple message for Israel’s enemies: Do not doubt Israel’s determination to defend itself on every front. All those who seek to harm us will pay a very heavy price for their aggression,” Netanyahu said in a televised address.

He also said the port that was targeted was not an “innocent port”.  

“It was used as their (Houthis) entry point for weapons that are supplied by Iran to its Houthi terrorist proxies. The Houthis have used those weapons to attack Israel, to attack Arab states in the region, to attack many others,” Netanyahu said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening:

“From the beginning of the war, I made it clear that Israel will act against all those who attack us.

This is why earlier today, I asked the Israeli cabinet to back my decision to strike against the Houthi targets in Yemen. pic.twitter.com/xWE3KXQaeV

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 20, 2024

“This strike comes in direct response to the killer drone attack that killed one person and injured several others, a hundred yards from the US Consulate in Tel Aviv. But the aggression of the Houthis goes well beyond that single attack. For the past eight months, the Houthis have launched hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones against Israel,” he said.

Netanyahu also said the “only reason those attacks have not caused a greater loss of life has been the defensive measures taken by Israel and its allies, which together have intercepted hundreds of projectiles”.

“But the drone attack that struck Israel on Friday shows that more than defensive action is needed to curtail the Houthis. Offensive action is also needed. It’s needed to ensure that Iran’s terror proxies pay a price for their brazen aggression,” he added

He thanked the United States, Britain, France, and other members of the international maritime coalition that was formed to repel Houthi attacks.

Israeli Jets Strike Yemen Rebels At Hodeida Port

The Israeli strikes killed three people and wounded 87 at Hodeida port. The attack targeted “fuel storage facilities and a power plant” in Hodeida “to pressure Yemen to stop supporting” Palestinians in Gaza, top Houthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam said while referring to the Israel-Hamas war.

Hodeida port, which is a vital entry point for imports and international aid for rebel-held areas of Yemen, had remained largely untouched through the decade-long war between the Houthis and the internationally recognised government propped up by neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis’ Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, has now warned that the Israeli strikes on Hodeida marked a dangerous turn nine months into the war in Gaza.

FILE PHOTO: The U.K.-owned vessel Rubymar, which had sunk in the Red Sea after being struck by an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by Yemeni Houthi militants, is seen in this aerial view released on March 3, 2024. U.S. Central Command/Handout via REUTERS
| Photo Credit: United States Central Command

A bulk carrier sank days after an attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels believed to have killed one mariner on board, authorities said early Wednesday, the second ship sunk in the rebels’ campaign.

The sinking of the Tutor in the Red Sea marks what appears to be a new escalation by the Iranian-backed Houthis in their campaign targeting shipping through the vital maritime corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

The attack comes despite a monthslong U.S.-led campaign in the region that has seen the Navy face its most-intense maritime fighting since World War II, with near-daily attacks targeting commercial vessels and warship.

The Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned-and-operated Tutor sank in the Red Sea, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said in a warning to sailors in the region.

“Military authorities report maritime debris and oil sighted in the last reported location,” the UKMTO said. “The vessel is believed to have sunk.”

The Houthis, quoting foreign reports in media outlets they control, acknowledged the sinking. The U.S. military did not acknowledge the sinking, nor did it respond to requests for comment.

The Tutor came under attack about a week ago by a bomb-carrying Houthi drone boat in the Red Sea. John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, said Monday that the attack killed “a crew member who hailed from the Philippines.” The Philippines has yet to acknowledge the death, but the man who had been aboard the Tutor has been missing for over a week in the Red Sea, which faces intense summertime heat.

The use of a boat loaded with explosives raised the specter of the attack in 2000 on the USS Cole, a suicide assault by al-Qaida when the warship was at port in the Yemeni city of Aden, killing 17 on board. The Cole is now part of a U.S. Navy operation in the Red Sea led by the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to try and halt the Houthi attacks, though the rebels continue their assaults.

The Houthis have launched more than 60 attacks targeting specific vessels and fired off other missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They’ve seized one vessel and sunk two since November. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.

In March, the Belize-flagged Rubymar carried a load of fertilizer sank in the Red Sea after taking on water for days following a rebel attack.

The Houthis have maintained their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. However, many of the ships they’ve attacked have little or no connection to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians there, while hundreds of others have been killed in Israeli operations in the West Bank. It began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.

A recent report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency acknowledged container shipping through Red Sea has declined by 90% since December over the attacks. As much as 15% of the world’s maritime traffic flows through that corridor.

Meanwhile Wednesday, the Houthis said U.S.-led airstrikes targeted Raymah, a province in Yemen under rebel control. The Houthi-controlled SABA news agency described a local radio station’s building as being “totally destroyed” in the strikes. About a week earlier, the Houthis said similar strikes killed two people and wounded nine others, without saying if those hurt were fighters or civilians.

The U.S. military’s Central Command said in an earlier statement it destroyed eight Houthi drones in Yemen, while also destroying a Houthi drone in flight over the Gulf of Aden over the last day.

Two Filipino crew members were among those killed in a missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on a ship in the Gulf of Aden, the Philippine government said on Thursday.

The Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting merchant vessels transiting the vital Red Sea trade route for months but Wednesday’s deaths were the first reported fatalities resulting from such an attack.

“The Department of Foreign Affairs expresses its sincere condolences to the families of the two Filipino crew members of the civilian bulk carrier True Confidence, which was the subject of a missile attack from Houthi rebels in Yemen,” the Ministry said in a statement.

The Indian Navy rescued 21 of the ship’s crew, including 13 Filipinos, the statement added.

The missile struck the ship’s fuel tanks, causing a fire and killing the two Filipinos and injuring two other compatriots among others, Department of Migrant Workers Undersecretary Hans Cacdac said in an interview.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree wrote on social media that the True Confidence was targeted with missiles “after the ship’s crew rejected warning messages” from the rebels.

Manila is still seeking the release of 17 Filipinos taken hostage by the Houthis in November.