Yemen Houthi rebel group attacks Israel fifth time in 1 week

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The Yemen-based Houthi rebel group claimed responsibility for a drone attack that struck the Israeli community of Ashkelon on Wednesday evening, the fifth such attack on the Jewish state in the last week.

A statement released by the group claimed that another drone was aimed at a “vital and sensitive target” in Tel Aviv, but there were no reports in Israeli media of it landing in the city.

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On Tuesday, Israel intercepted a missile fired from the group. The strike came shortly after Defense Minister Israel Katz reaffirmed Israel’s goal to degrade the Houthis’ military capabilities and even begin targeting the militia’s leadership.

“Just as we took care of Sinwar in Gaza, Haniyeh in Tehran and Nasrallah in Beirut, we will deal with the heads of the Houthis in Sana’a or anywhere in Yemen,” Katz said during a tour of an anti-ballistic missile installation in Israel, referring to recently assassinated Hamas and Hezbollah leaders. “We will act both against their infrastructure and against them to remove the threat.”

In anticipation of an Israeli retaliatory strike, an Arabic newspaper, Ashraq Al-Aswat, reported earlier Wednesday that Houthi forces had escalated their readiness, evacuating strategic areas surrounding the port city of Hodeida and calling up fresh reinforcements to shore up the frontlines. According to the report, the group is fearful that a significant attack could severely compromise their position in Yemen and potentially lead to a popular overthrow.

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International focus has shifted to the long-range conflict between Israel and the Houthis as a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah and ongoing negotiations with Hamas have curtailed the fear of widespread regional conflict.

Tensions between the two erupted in mid-October 2023 after the Palestinian terror group invaded Israel on October 7, 2023. The militia group, which is also heavily supported by the Iranian regime, sought to jam up shipping through the Red Sea and force container ships to circumvent Africa, adding considerable travel costs onto already long international shipping routes.

The spate of Houthi attacks on the Israeli homefront has caused great alarm across the country. Last week, a missile from Yemen severely damaged a school in Ramat Gan, an affluent Tel Aviv suburb. A subsequent Israeli air strike targeted power plants in the Yemeni capital of Sana.

The escalating attacks spurred Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar to renew the country’s diplomatic push across the eurozone and the United Kingdom to formally sanction the group and place them on a terror watch list. “The Houthis pose a threat not only to Israel but to the region and the entire world,” Sa’ar said in a statement.  “The direct threat to freedom of navigation in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes is a challenge to the international community and the world order,” the minister added. “The first and most basic thing is to define them as a terrorist organization.”

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On Christmas Eve, Sa’ar requested the United Nations Security Council convene a special session to condemn the attacks and denounce Iranian complicity.

In early December, the Trudeau government designated the Houthis, which also go by the Arabic name Ansarallah, as a terror entity.

“Today’s addition of Ansarallah as a listed terrorist entity contributes to our efforts in fighting terrorism globally and aligning Canada with our allies,” then-Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement announcing the news. “Acts of violent extremism and terrorism have no place in the world and we will continue to take action to curtail the spread of these activities internationally and to counter threats to Canada, its citizens and its interests around the world.”

Later that month, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser pledged to make a similar move. “I guarantee what you’re going to see very soon is a redesignation of them for what they are — a terrorist organization,” Florida Congressman Michael Waltz told podcaster Ben Shapiro.

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The Biden administration has vacillated on its handling of the Houthis. In 2021, the group was removed from the American Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list. In 2023, the Houthis were restored to the Specially Designated Global Terrorist group list, a less onerous classification that, for instance, prevents victims from suing for civil damages to those providing material support for the group

Canadian Armed Forces members have aided a military coalition, largely composed of Western nations such as America and the United Kingdom, to undermine Houthi military capabilities in Operation Prosperity Guardian.

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