26 December 2024 Israeli attack on Yemen | |
---|---|
Part of the Middle Eastern crisis (2023–present) December 2024 Israeli airstrikes in Yemen | |
Location | |
Target | Sanaa International Airport, Al-Dailami Air Base, Hudaydah Port, Ras Iffa port, Haziz and Ras Qantib power stations |
Date | 26 December 2024 |
Executed by | Israel Defense Forces |
Outcome | |
Casualties | 6 killed, 40 wounded [2] |
On 26 December 2024, twenty-five Israeli Air Force aircraft struck multiple targets in the areas of Yemen controlled by the Houthi Movement, most notably on the capital's Sanaa International Airport. [3] According to Israel, the attacks, which were part of their operation code-named Operation Tzelilei HaKerem (English: Operation Sounds of the Vineyard), were carried out in response to the firing of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) toward Israel by the Houthi Movement. [4] It took place as part of multiple Israeli airstrikes in Yemen in December amidst the Houthi involvement in the Israel–Hamas war. [5]
Since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, the Houthi Movement in Yemen has been engaged in a spillover conflict with Israel. On 20 July 2024, Israel conducted attacks on Hudaydah Port in Al Hudaydah, Yemen, claiming to have targeted Houthi infrastructure. They carried out an aerial bombing of alleged ammunition depots, oil storage facilities, and power stations. Israel struck targets Inside Yemen again in September and earlier in December. [5]
The airstrikes, which took place on 26 December, were carried out by 25 Israeli Air Force warplanes during a speech by Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi. According to the Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya news channel, the airstrikes targeted the Sanaa International Airport, Hudaydah port, and a power station near Sanaa. The operation was aimed at maximizing damage while also maintaining an element of surprise. Key targets included the airport's control tower, which was disabled, and civilian aircraft allegedly used by the Houthi government. Reports indicated casualties and damage to infrastructure, with claims by the Houthi state controlled Al Masirah TV that some targets were civilian. [6]
Israeli officials, who informed the United States of the attacks in advance, stated the strikes were a response to Houthi actions, warning that further actions would follow if they deemed it necessary. A second wave of attacks occurred shortly after the initial strikes. [5] This attack included seven strikes on Sanaa International Airport which took out the airport's control tower and damaged the runway, as well as three strikes each on the port of Hodeidah, Ras Iffa Port and the Haziz and Ras Qantib power stations. [7] [8]
Houthi Movement owned media outlet Al-Masirah reported that at least three people were killed, and fourteen others injured in the attacks, [9] three of them were killed at Sanaa International Airport and another person was killed at Ras Issa Port. [10] [11] [12] Three others were reported missing in Hodeidah. [13] Several fighter aircraft of the Yemeni Air Force-SPC were also amongst the targets; [14] three of these aircraft were reported by Israeli media sources to have been destroyed. [15] Al-Dailami Air Base was also struck by Israeli aircraft. [16] One of the two remaining naval tugs under the command of Yemeni Navy-SPC was also destroyed. [17]
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and a United Nations team were about to board a plane at the Sanaa airport at the time of the strikes. A crew member on the plane was injured. [18] [13] The death toll later rose to six, with an additional forty being wounded. [19]
This was the largest strike carried out by Israel in Yemeni territory since the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war, following three previous operations: the 20 July 2024 attack, the September 2024 strike, and the December 2024 strikes. [20]
Sources in Israel's defense establishment stated that the strike marks the start of a larger campaign against the Houthis. [20] The IDF raised the readiness level of its air defense systems and the Air Force, in anticipation of a possible Houthi response. [21] Soon after the second wave of airstrikes on Yemen, the Houthi Movement launched a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv, causing sirens to sound across central Israel, the fate of the missile was unclear as the IDF refused to provide further details. [22]
Al Hudaydah, also transliterated as Hodeda, Hodeida, Hudaida or Hodeidah, is the fourth-largest city in Yemen and its principal port on the Red Sea and it is the centre of Al Hudaydah Governorate. As of 2023, it has an estimated population of 735,000.
Sanaa International Airport is the primary international airport of Yemen located in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. It services Sanaa City as well as the entire population of the northern provinces of Yemen. Initially, a small passenger terminal was built in the 1970s. The runway is shared with the large Al-Dailami Air Base.
Hodeida International Airport is an airport in Hodeida, Yemen.
On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa, launched a military intervention in Yemen at the request of Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been ousted from the capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 by Houthi insurgents during the Yemeni Civil War. Efforts by the United Nations to facilitate a power sharing arrangement under a new transitional government collapsed, leading to escalating conflict between government forces, Houthi rebels, and other armed groups, which culminated in Hadi fleeing to Saudi Arabia shortly before it began military operations in the country.
The Houthi–Saudi Arabian conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between the Royal Saudi Armed Forces and Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi forces that has been taking place in the Arabian Peninsula, including the southern Saudi regions of Asir, Jizan, and Najran, and northern Yemeni governorates of Saada, Al Jawf, and Hajjah, since the onset of the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen in 2015.
The following is a timeline of the Yemeni civil war, which began in September 2014.
The Rampage, initially named MARS, is an air-to-surface missile developed by Israel Military Industries and Israel Aerospace Industries derived from the EXTRA. It is a standoff weapon designed to hit high-value targets such as radar installations, communications centers, weapons storage facilities and airfields while the launch aircraft remains out of range of air defenses. It was officially unveiled in June 2018 and reportedly used for the first time in April 2019 in Syria. As of July 2023, the Royal Air Force is looking at using Rampage missiles after donating Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine. Rampage missiles are believed to be cheaper than Storm Shadow missiles and are more readily available.
The siege of Al Hudaydah, codenamed Operation Golden Victory, was a major Saudi-led coalition assault on the port city of Al Hudaydah in Yemen. It was spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and has been considered as the largest battle since the start of Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen in 2015.
The Hudaydah Port is a key Yemeni port on the Red Sea coast. It is the second largest port in the country, located in Al Hudaydah, the fourth largest city in Yemen. The port handles up to 80% of the humanitarian supplies, fuel and commercial goods in northern Yemen.
The Red Sea crisis began on 19 October 2023, when the Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen launched missiles and armed drones at Israel, demanding an end to the invasion of the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have since seized and launched aerial attacks against dozens of merchant and naval vessels in the Red Sea, drawing hundreds of air strikes on missile sites and other targets by US and allied forces. The crisis is linked to the Israel–Hamas war, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, the Iran–United States proxy conflict, and the Yemeni crisis.
Events in the year 2024 in Yemen.
Since 12 January 2024, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, have launched a series of cruise missile and airstrikes, codenamed Operation Poseidon Archer, against the Houthi movement in Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis had previously declared that their attacks are in support of Palestinians during the Israel–Hamas war; Houthi attacks on shipping were condemned by the United Nations Security Council the day before the initial strike.
al-Dailami Air Base is an air base in Yemen. It is located 15 km north of the city of Sana'a and shares the runway with Sana'a International Airport.
The Middle Eastern crisis is a series of interrelated conflicts and heightened instability in the Middle East which began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, after a period of rising tensions. Mohammed Deif, the head of Hamas' Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that the attack was made in response to the escalating Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel then began a destructive bombing campaign and invasion of the Gaza Strip.
On 30 May 2024, the United States and United Kingdom conducted a joint set of airstrikes in Sanaa and Hodeidah, Yemen, killing 16 people and injuring 42. The United States and United Kingdom claimed that the strikes were targeting members of the Houthi rebel group; however, the Houthis claimed all those killed or injured in the strikes were civilians.
On 20 July 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched an attack on Hudaydah Port in Al Hudaydah, Yemen. The attack damaged a power generating station, an oil refinery, fuel storage facilities belonging to the Yemen Petroleum Corporation (YPC), and port cranes. Israel claimed it targeted weapon storage facilities. 14 people were killed, including 12 port employees and more than 90 were injured, many with severe burns.
Yemeni Houthi militants performed a drone attack on Israel on 19 July 2024, hitting an apartment building near the US Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv, Israel's economic center in Ben Yehuda Street. The drone strike killed one person in his apartment building, and injured 10 others. The drone was spotted but not intercepted due to what Israel attributed to human error, with the Houthis asserting that they had developed a drone with the ability to evade the Iron Dome. The air raid siren was also not activated.
On 29 September 2024, Israel launched attacks in Yemen against the ports of Al Hudaydah and Ras Isa, both located in the Houthi-controlled part of the country, using F-15I, F-35I Adir, and F-16I aircraft. Six people were killed and at least 57 were injured. Widespread power outages were caused in the city of Hodeida itself. The attacks caused significant damage to Yemeni port facilities and power generating stations.
In December 2024, Israel carried out several strikes against the Houthis, a Zaidi militia supported by Iran, in response to Houthi attacks on population centers in Israel. On the morning of 19 December 2024, Israel carried out several airstrikes in western Yemen in an operation dubbed Operation White City, and on 26 December the Israeli Air Force conducted another air strike dubbed as the Operation Sounds of Vineyard targeting Sanaa International Airport and the port of al-Hodeida. It was reported that the strikes were executed in cooperation with the U.S. and UK militaries.