Israel strikes port and energy targets in Yemen

(Reuters)

CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Dec 19 – Israel launched strikes against ports and energy infrastructure in Houthi-held parts of Yemen early on Thursday and threatened more attacks against the Iran-aligned militant group, which has launched hundreds of missiles at Israel over the past year.

As Israeli jets were in the air, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile headed towards central Israel which destroyed a school building in the town of Ramat Efal with what a military spokesperson described as falling shrapnel.

The Israeli attack, involving 14 fighter jets and other aircraft, came in two waves, with a first series of strikes on the ports of Salif and Ras Issa and a second series hitting the capital Sanaa, military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters.

“We made extensive preparations for these operations with efforts to refine our intelligence and to optimize the strikes,” he said.

Al Masirah TV, the main television news outlet run by the Houthis, said the airstrikes killed nine people, seven in Salif and two in the Ras Issa oil facility, both in the western province of Hodeidah.

In Sanaa, the strikes also targeted two central power stations south and north of the capital, Sanaa, which Al Masirah said had cut electricity to thousands of families.

The Israeli attacks followed a strike on Monday by U.S. aircraft against a command and control facility operated by the Houthis, which control much of Yemen.