Tel Aviv – Amid talks between Israel and Hamas to establish a cease-fire deal for hostages in Gaza, and as the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon largely holds, Jerusalem has an opportunity. That he direct additional military resources to reduce Yemen’s Houthi leadership. to former Israeli officials.
“Israel must accelerate and expand its attacks. [in Yemen]Not only on national infrastructure but also on political leadership,” retired Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli military intelligence and president of MIND Israel, told Fox News Digital.
“Target killing is an option if there is good intelligence to enable such operations. Houthi leaders should meet with Sinwar and Nasrallah and the sooner the better,” he added.
US Navy ships repulse Houthi attack in Gulf of Aden
Killed in an attack by the Israeli Defense Forces. Hezbollah terrorist master Hasan Nasrallah on September 28 in Beirut, Lebanon, while Israeli ground forces killed Yahya Sinwar, head of Hamas, in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on October 17, and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in Iran last summer.
Houthi terrorist leader:
The Houthis are led by Abdul Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi (Abu Jibril), who was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US State Department in 2021.
According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), other top officials include the commander of the Republican Guard (Presidential Reserve), Abdul Khaliq Badr al-Din al-Houthi (Abu Younis), who was also blacklisted by the US in 2021. Muhammad Ali al-Houthi (Abu Ahmad), member of the Supreme Political Council; and Abdul Karim Amiruddin Hussain al-Houthi, Minister of Interior and Director of Ansarullah’s Executive Office.
Joe Truzman, a research analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital that intelligence-driven assassinations take time and that, to date, the Israelis are engaged in Gaza and Lebanon.
“But it can be done. We’ve seen Israel target nuclear scientists and military personnel in Iran. It can be repeated in Yemen. If the Houthis continue these attacks, Israel will focus more on them. will be concentrated,” said Truzman.
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yaakov Amidor, a former national security adviser to Israel and a senior fellow at the Washington-based JINSA think tank, outlined the complexity of such an effort to Fox News Digital.
The successful air attack of the American army on the bases of the Houthi rebels in Yemen
“You have to make sure a target is where you bomb. If he has three houses, how do you know which house he’s in? You need real-time intel,” he said. said Amador, who noted that it was relatively easy. Israel has targeted Nasrallah since his exact location was known.
“The strike took 15-20 minutes [the Hezbollah headquarters] in Beirut because it’s so close to Israel,” he said. “Yemen is a huge logistical operation, requiring jets to be refueled, let alone ground tactical issues. An entirely different kind of intelligence is required.
“Both Nasrallah and Sinwar were known enemies and we collected information about them for many years, but the Houthis were not a priority”. “The way forward is to accelerate intelligence gathering by building bridges with those who can provide it.”
overnight wednesday, The IAF hit the targets After a Houthi missile hit a primary school in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv, about 1,200 miles away in Yemen.
According to reports, the pre-dawn attacks were carried out in two waves, targeting the Ras Issa oil terminal on the Red Sea, Hodeidah and Salif ports, as well as the Dehban and Hazeez power stations in Sana’a.
In July, a Houthi drone killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, prompting the IAF to attack the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. Israeli jets also carried out dozens of airstrikes in the Hodeida area in September.
In total, the Houthis have fired more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel since Hamas took over on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people. Since then, the Houthis have also attacked more than six dozen merchant ships – most notably in Bab al-Mandab, the southern strait of Egypt’s Suez Canal.
“The distance to Yemen is the IAF’s longest range so far, but they can extend it with more refueling,” Brig. A former IAF pilot General (Relic Shafir) who participated in Operation Opera over Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor on June 7, 1981, told Fox News Digital.
“For a pilot to sit in an F-15, F-16 or F-35 for seven hours is uncomfortable. You need to be fully aware and at a high level of concentration,” he continued. “Israel can strike pretty much any existing enemy and the air force uses guided missiles that fire with an accuracy of two or three feet.”
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a warning to the Houthis, “We will attack their strategic infrastructure and decapitate their leaders. As we did.” [former Hamas chief Ismail] Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah, in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon – we will do it in Hodeidah and Sana’a.”
Jerusalem had previously refused to claim responsibility for the July 31 killing of Haniyeh, who was traveling to the Iranian capital for the swearing-in of the country’s president.
On Friday, US Defense Department spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Israelis “certainly have a right to defend themselves.”
Former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy told Fox News Digital that the Houthis “are a threat to everyone in the Middle East.”. “Finally, most countries in the region will be interested and ready to cooperate in efforts to end these attacks, which have no justification.”
“All terrorist activities are a challenge that must be adequately responded to. The Houthis have suffered and if they continue to provoke us, we will have to do more,” Halevi insisted.
In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition launched a military intervention against the Houthis at the request of then Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who had been ousted from Sana’a last September. Yemen’s civil war has remained deadlocked since February 2015, when the internationally recognized government, led by the Presidential Leadership Council 2022, is based in Aden, in the south of the country.
A source close to the government told Israel’s public broadcaster Qaan on Saturday that Jerusalem should begin killing Houthi leaders, while Saudi outlet Al Arabiya reported that senior Houthi officials had fled Sana’a over fears. They have been told that they will be targeted.
“We need to understand more deeply what it is that will weaken the Houthis’ ability to operate,” Eyal Halata, Israel’s former national security adviser, told Fox News Digital. “For that we need more intelligence, more assessments and coordination between different parties.”
Halata said that the big question is whether Israel and Hamas will continue to pose a threat to the Houthis if they agree to a ceasefire.
“If they become a major adversary, Israel will need to deal with it by directing resources that it was hoping to avoid – and probably still hopes to avoid,” he said.
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On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israelis to “be patient” as Jerusalem prepares to intensify its campaign against the Houthis.
“We will take strong, determined and sophisticated action. Even if it takes time, the result will be the same,” he vowed. “Just as we have taken strong action against the terrorist arms of Iran’s axis of evil, we will take action against the Houthis.”