Houthi leader claims first Iraqi-Houthi strike on Israel

The leader of Yemen’s Houthi militia, Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, said his troops launched on Thursday morning their first attack on Israel with the assistance of the Iraqi Islamic Resistance in retaliation to Israel’s offensive in the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

“Today at daybreak, our military forces commenced coordinated operations with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq by carrying out an important operation towards the port of Haifa,” Al-Houthi said in a televised address.

He added that they fired 91 ballistic missiles and drones in 38 operations against ships in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranean during the past 30 days.

Al-Houthi claimed that his troops had developed a long-range ballistic missile capable of evading radar and reaching as far as Israel and that they fired seven ballistic missiles and four drones at the US Eisenhower aircraft carrier, causing it to reposition itself to the north of the Red Sea to avoid further attacks.

The Houthi leader’s speech came shortly after the militia’s military spokesperson, Yahya Sarea, announced that their forces, along with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, had launched two drone attacks on ships at the Israeli port of Haifa in response to Israeli military operations in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces conducted two coordinated military operations with the Iraqi Islamic Resistance. The first targeted two ships carrying military equipment in Haifa’s harbor,” Sarea said, adding that the second strike targeted a ship that had broken their restriction on traveling to the same Israeli port.

During their campaign against ships on international shipping routes, which began in November, the Houthis have seized one commercial ship, sunk another, and claimed to have fired hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at over 130 ships in the Red Sea, Bab Al-Mandab Strait, Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean, and Mediterranean.

The Houthis claim that their operations are limited to targeting ships affiliated with or sailing to Israel to force the latter to end its war in Gaza.

On Wednesday, Sarea claimed to have targeted three ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea but did not specify when the strikes occurred.

He said that their missile and drone forces struck Roza and Vantage Dream in the Red Sea for breaching their embargo on traveling to the Israeli port, as well as Maersk Seletar in the Arabian Sea, which he claims is owned by the US.

Ship tracking app Marine Traffic identified the Roza ship as a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier traveling from India to the Suez Canal and arriving on Thursday.

The Vantage Dream ship is another Liberian-flagged bulk carrier that was sailing from India to the Suez Canal while the Maersk Seletar ship is a container ship sailing under the US flag that departed the Omani Salalah on Wednesday to an unidentified location, according to the same ship tracking app.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Minister of Information Moammar Al-Eryani has issued an urgent plea to the international community to pressure the Houthis to allow an injured Yemeni journalist to seek medical treatment.

According to the Yemeni minister, Mohammed Shubaita, secretary-general of the Yemeni Journalists’ Syndicate, who was shot by the Houthis early last month, is being held in a hospital in Sanaa. His health has deteriorated, the Houthis have denied him proper medication, and only a few people have been allowed to visit him, the minister said.

“He is in a poor situation because of complications from the injuries and intestinal ruptures. He also has a terrible psychological position as a consequence of continuing to deny him visits and only allowing a small number of people to see him,” the minister said on X.