The Israeli military carried out a series of intense airstrikes that shook Yemen’s rebel-held capital and a port city early Thursday, in a preplanned operation that coincided with the Houthis firing a missile that hit a school in central Israel.
No one was injured by the ballistic missile, which the Israel Defense Forces said was partially intercepted outside Israeli airspace by the long-range Arrow air defense system. However, the warhead didn’t explode in the air and crashed into an empty school building in the city of Ramat Gan, with nobody hurt. It was the second missile from Yemen fired this week, along with a drone attack.
According to a statement by the Israel Defense Force, dozens of Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft participated in the strikes in Yemen, including fighter jets, refuelers and spy planes, some 2,000 kilometers from Israel. The Houthi targets were struck at the Hodeida port — which Israel has struck twice before — and for the first time, in the rebel-held capital Sana’a, the IDF said.
The IAF had been preparing for the strike for several weeks, military sources said, and the planes were already on their way to Yemen when the Houthis launched a missile at Israel.
The projectile set off sirens in central Israel communities due to concerns about falling debris from the interception, and millions of people were forced into bomb shelters due to the attack, the IDF said.
According to an initial probe by the military, the missile was likely partially intercepted, with the intact warhead causing extensive damage to a school in the Tel Aviv suburb Ramat Gan, where a building collapsed.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch visited the site of the Ramat Gan school on Thursday morning. He said that the students had been temporarily relocated to a nearby school, where they would remain for the next two weeks before they return to a newly constructed building, which was already completed prior to the strike.
Modiin Mayor Haim Bibas said that shrapnel, apparently from IDF interceptor missiles, had also fallen in two places in the central city, causing minor damage but no reported injuries.
Sirens didn’t sound in the city during the attack, and Bibas said he was in contact with the IDF’s Home Front Command to understand why.
Two small fragments of an interceptor rocket were also found outside the Knesset building in Jerusalem, a spokesman announced.
“No damage was caused and the fragments of the interceptor were removed by the scene by Israel Police sappers,” he added.
In a statement published mid-morning on Thursday, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree claimed that the group had fired two missiles, not one, at “specific and sensitive military targets” in the Tel Aviv area, which he referred to as the “occupied Yaffa area.”
Houthi ports said paralyzed
Israeli military sources said the strikes in Yemen were aimed at paralyzing all three ports used by the Iran-backed Houthis on the coast of the country.
All of the tugboats used to bring ships into ports were struck in the Israeli attack, as were power stations.
In Israel’s previous attack on the Hodeida port, the cranes used to unload shipments were struck.
Israel now believes that all activity at the ports controlled by the Houthis is paralyzed, sources said.
Shortly after the Houthi missile fire, the rebel group’s satellite channel al-Masirah reported strikes in Sana’a and the coastal Hodeida province, some of which it said targeted power stations in the capital as well as the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea.
It said the strikes killed nine people.
Unverified video shared on social media purported to show the aftermath of the attack, showing buildings ablaze.
The overnight airstrikes marked the first time the IDF has hit targets in Sana’a, and the third time it has struck Yemen in response to Houthi attacks, including a July strike after a Houthi drone killed a civilian in Tel Aviv.
