Israel ready to hit Houthis again while urging US to take lead
Foreign minister reiterates Israel’s threat to escalate fighting against Hezbollah
Jerusalem: Israel is prepared to attack Al Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen again following its air strike last week, the country’s top diplomat said, though would prefer the US-headed maritime security coalition to take the lead role.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the Iran-backed militant group is planning fresh attacks after a long-distance Al Houthi drone killed a man in Tel Aviv on July 19.
Al Houthis are, he said, undeterred despite Israel’s counter-strike on the Red Sea port of Hodeida the following day.
“They will continue,” Katz said in an interview in his Jerusalem office.
Al Houthis are working with Hezbollah, the most powerful of Iran’s allied militant groups, and Shiite militias in Iraq, he said.
The foreign minister reiterated Israel’s threat to escalate fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon unless the group retreats from the border area, where the two sides have traded rocket fire since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas in October. Both Hezbollah and Al Houthis have launched missiles at Israel in solidarity with their fellow Islamist group and Palestinian civilians.
Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis are all designated terrorist organizations by the US.
Prospective targets
Asked if Israel has a list of prospective targets to restrain Al Houthis, he said: “Yes, from the beginning of the war, after they attacked Israel, our intelligence began to work so that we will have enough.”
Israel’s capabilities are stretched, however, by the 1,200-mile (1,931-km) distance to Yemen, while Al Houthis have defied bombing attacks for several years during their war with Saudi-led Arab coalition. They’ve also withstood strikes from the US and UK that began in January to try to stop the group’s shipping attacks in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Katz suggested the 10-nation coalition set up by the US late last year to counter Al Houthis may be better placed.
“We would prefer that the coalition will lead the war against the Houthis,” he said.
A potential ceasefire in Gaza may serve to ease tension across the region, Katz said, though he played down Hezbollah’s pledge to stop fighting in the event of a truce.
“We won’t accept the ‘quiet for quiet’ formula,” he said, demanding that Hezbollah forces withdraw to the Litani River, well away from the Israeli border where their presence would be perceived as an ongoing threat.
“We have about 70,000 people that we evacuated from the north, and we can’t move them back” until they feel secure, Katz said. “And because of that there is a high chance that it will be a bigger conflict with Lebanon.”