At least 3 killed and 87 injured, Houthis say, as Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen day after Tel Aviv drone attack

CNN:

At least three people were killed and scores more injured in Israeli airstrikes on a Yemeni port, Houthi rebels have said, a day after the Iran-backed group claimed a deadly attack on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its fighter jets struck “military targets of the Houthi terrorist regime” in the area of Yemen’s Hodeidah Port on Saturday, in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was a direct response to the death of a 50-year-old Israeli in a Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv on Friday.

This is the first time Israel has struck Yemen, according to Israeli officials.

The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said the strikes targeted oil facilities in the port on Yemen’s west coast, killing at least three people and injuring 87, most of them with “severe burns.”

Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam said the strikes had also hit civilian targets and a power station. He slammed what he said was “brutal Israeli aggression” aimed at increasing the “suffering of the people of Yemen” and pressuring the group to stop its support of Gaza.

Houthi army spokesperson Yehya Saree vowed to respond to the strike, saying the Houthis would not hesitate to strike Israel’s “vital targets” and warning that Tel Aviv – a major city home to scores of diplomatic missions – was still not safe.

“We have prepared for a long war with this enemy until the aggression stops and the blockade on the Palestinian people is lifted,” Saree said.