The Israeli forces struck Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah and Salif on Friday. The attack was done to degrade Houthi military capabilities and to warn the top leadership of the group, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, of retaliation if attacks on Israel persist. This comes as Houthis have continued to fire missiles at Israel in solidarity with Palestinians and Gaza, in spite of agreeing to hold attacks on the US ship.

Israel has carried out retaliatory strikes, including the one on May 6 that damaged Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa and killed several people. On Friday, the Israeli military struck the two ports of Hodeidah and Salif, which were allegedly being used to transfer weapons. The residents of the two ports said that they heard four loud booms and saw smoke rising from the port following the attack.

Israeli PM Responds

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defence Minister said that they would hunt down the Houthi top leaders.

“If the Houthis continue to fire missiles at the State of Israel, they will be severely harmed, and we will also hurt the leaders,” said the two in a joint statement, adding that al-Houthi could join the list of militant figures killed by Israel such as Hamas’ Yahya Sinwar and Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah.