Yemen's Huthi rebels vow more attacks on Israel

Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels on Tuesday pledged more attacks against Israel if its war on Hamas in Gaza continues, saying it had already fired drones and ballistic missiles in three separate operations.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces… confirm they will continue to carry out qualitative strikes with missiles and drones until the Israeli aggression stops,” said a Huthi military statement aired on the rebels’ Al-Masirah TV.

It said Huthi rebels “launched a large batch of ballistic missiles… and a large number of armed aircraft” towards Israel on Tuesday, in the third such operation since the Gaza assault began on October 7 after Hamas militants staged the worst attack in Israel’s history.

Earlier, Israel’s military said a “hostile aircraft intrusion” had set off warning sirens in Eilat, its Red Sea resort, later saying it had intercepted a “surface-to-surface missile” fired toward Israeli territory, that was “successfully intercepted by the ‘Arrow’ aerial defence system”.

“All aerial threats were intercepted outside of Israeli territory,” it said.

Abdelaziz bin Habtour, prime minister of the Huthi government, on Tuesday said the rebels were “part of the axis of resistance” against Israel, which includes Tehran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, and were fighting with both “words and drones”.

“It is one axis and there is coordination taking place, a joint operations room, and a joint command for all these operations,” he said.

“We cannot allow this arrogant Zionist enemy to kill our people.”

The Huthis seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 and control large swathes of the country.

Israel had blamed the Huthis for a drone attack on Friday, saying its aircraft had intercepted “hostile targets” headed for southern Israel.

On October 19, the US Navy said it shot down three land-attack cruise missiles and “several” drones fired by the Huthis, possibly at Israel.