Israeli navy attacks rebel-held Yemeni port city of Hodeida, a first in the conflict

DUBAI United Arab Emirates AP Israel s navy attacked docks in Yemen s rebel-held port city of Hodeida on Tuesday launching its first seaborne assault against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels while warning more could come The attack on Hodeida likely damaged facilities that are key to aid shipments to the hungry war-wracked nation but also have allegedly been used for weapons smuggling as vessels reportedly work around United Nations inspectors Both Israel and the United States have struck ports in the area in the past including an American attack that killed people in April but Israel is now acting alone in attacking the rebels as they continue to fire missiles at Israel over its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned his country s long arm in the air and at sea will reach everywhere We warned the Houthi terror organization that if they continue to fire at Israel they will face a powerful response and enter a naval and air blockade he mentioned But on Tuesday night Israel s military declared a missile launched from Yemen was most of likely intercepted as explosions could be heard in Jerusalem likely from interceptor fire The Houthis did not right away claim the attack though their supporters highlighted the situation Israeli attack again targets the Hodeida port The Israeli attack struck Hodeida specific kilometers miles southwest of Yemen s capital Sanaa on the Red Sea on Tuesday morning The Houthis offered no immediate damage assessment and there were no videos straightaway disclosed by their al-Masirah satellite news channel It has no effect even on the morale of our people who take to the streets weekly in backing of Gaza wrote Nasruddin Amer the deputy head of the Houthis media office The Israeli military disclosed missile boats carried out the attack It marked a departure for Israel which previously relied on airstrikes to target the Houthis Hodeida is over kilometers miles south of Israel s southern tip requiring the Israeli military to use aerial refueling to conduct those strikes Israel s navy with over sailors has been mainly deployed in the Mediterranean Sea since Hamas Oct attack on Israel began the war The strikes were carried out to stop the use of the port for military purposes the Israeli military reported without offering a damage assessment from the attack The port is used to transfer weapons and is a further example of the Houthi terrorist regime s cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure in order to advance terrorist pursuits Already Israel has destroyed all the aircraft used by Yemen s state carrier Yemenia in strikes on Sanaa International Airport Hodeida is key for aid but rumors of weapons smuggling are growing Hodeida is the main entry point for food and other humanitarian aid for millions of Yemenis since the war began when the Houthis seized Sanaa in A Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen s exiled governing body considered trying to retake Hodeida by force in but ultimately decided against it as international criticism and worries about the port being destroyed grew A United Nations mission operates in Hodeida while another screens ships off Djibouti However those inspections appear to be no longer catching all vessels heading into Hodeida A U N experts overview last year wrote about receiving a tip about vessels reaching the Hodeida area to unload major quantities of military materiel The Houthis also are maintained to use an overland passage as well via the Gulf of Aden to smuggle in weapons Iran denies directly arming the Houthis though United Nations experts Western nations and analysts have linked weapons in the rebels arsenal back to Tehran The U N mission monitoring shipping into Yemen did not respond to a request for comment Dorothy Shea the U S ambassador to the United Nations stated in a speech in May that more money needed to go to the U N mission Earlier this month UNVIM successfully interdicted four shipping containers of illicit materials bound for Houthi-controlled ports she noted using an acronym for the U N inspection mission This interdiction clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of this mechanism We all need to continue supporting its operations Houthis have launched sea attacks during war The Houthis have been launching persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel s offensive in Gaza From November until January the Houthis targeted more than merchant vessels with missiles and drones sinking two of them and killing four sailors That has greatly reduced the flow of contract through the Red Sea corridor which typically sees trillion of goods move through it annually The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the U S launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March President Donald Trump paused those attacks just before his trip to the Mideast saying the rebels had capitulated to American demands Early Tuesday U S Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on X that U S Navy ships had traveled through the Red Sea and its Bab el-Mandeb Strait multiple times in fresh days without facing Houthi attacks These transits occurred without challenge and demonstrate the success of both Operation ROUGH RIDER and the President s Peace Through Strength agenda Hegseth wrote ahead of facing Congress for the first time since sharing sensitive military details of America s military campaign against the Houthis in a Signal chat It s unclear how the Houthis will respond now that an attack has come from the sea rather than the air from the Israelis Meanwhile a wider decadelong war in Yemen remains stalemated Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv Israel Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this review Source