Tel Aviv – Amid negotiations to create a hostage ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. And according to most there is a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Jerusalem has an opportunity to command additional military resources to shrink Yemen’s Houthi leadership to size. To former Israeli officials
“Israel must accelerate and expand its attacks[in Yemen]not only on the country’s infrastructure. but also political leadership,” retired Lt. Col. Gen. Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli military intelligence and chairman of MIND Israel, told Fox News Digital.
“Targeted killing is an option. If there is good intelligence in carrying out such operations Houthi leaders should meet with Sinwar and Nasrallah. And the sooner the better,” he added.
United States Navy Repelling attacks from Huthis in the Gulf of Aden
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu splits screens with Abdul Malik Badruddin al-Houthi, the Houthi leader. (Getty Images)
An Israeli Defense Forces attack killed Hezbollah terrorist Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Lebanon on September 9. On Oct. 28, Israeli ground forces eliminated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, when Oct. 28, 17, and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas in Iran last summer.
Houthi terrorist leader:
The Houthis are led by Abdul Malik Badruddin al-Houthi (Abu Jibril), whom the U.S. State Department Designated as a 2021 Specially Wanted Global Terrorist.
According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracy (FDD), other high-ranking officials include Abdul Khaliq Badruddin al-Houthi (Abu Younis), commander of the Republican militia; (Presidential Reserve), which the United States has blacklisted in 2021. Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi (Abu Ahmad), member of the Supreme Political Council; and Abdul Karim Amiruddin Husayn al-Houthi, Minister of the Interior and Director of the Administrative Office of Ansar Allah.
An undated photo of Houthi leader Abdul Malik Badruddin al-Houthi. FDD’s Long War Record notes that he has been designated by the State Department as a wanted global terrorist. Special in 2021 (FDD’s Long War Record)
Joe Truzman, a research analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital that intelligence-based assassination operations take time, and so far, Israelis are also preoccupied with Gaza and Lebanon.
“But it can be done. We have seen Israel target nuclear scientists and military personnel in Iran. This can be done in Yemen. If the Houthis continue their attacks Israel will focus more on them,” Truzman said.
Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, former national security adviser in Israel and senior fellow at JINSA think tank in Washington, discussed the complexities of the effort with Fox News Digital.
US soldiers conduct successful airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
This handout image obtained from Yemen’s Huthi Ansarullah Media Center shows a large fire that erupted after an IDF attack on the Yemeni rebel port city of Hodeida on July 20, 2024. (Ansarullah Media Center/ AFP via Getty Images)
“You have to make sure the target is where you plant the bomb. If he has three houses How do you know which house he belongs to? You have to have real-time data,” said Amidror, who noted that it is relatively simple. For Israel to attack Nasrallah from the moment his exact location was known.
“The attack on[Hezbollah headquarters]in Beirut took about 15-20 minutes because it is so close to Israel,” he said. “Yemen is a huge logistical operation. It requires refueling jets. Not to mention the tactical problems on the ground. An entirely different kind of intelligence is required.
“Both Nasrallah and Sinwar are known enemies. And we have been collecting information about them for many years. But the Houthis are not a priority,” Amidror continued. “The way forward is to start intensifying intelligence collection by building bridges with those who can provide it.”
overnight on Wednesday The Indian Air Force struck targets some 1,200 miles away in Yemen after a Houthi missile hit a primary school in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv.
An IDF profile picture shows Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah, who the IDF confirmed was killed in the September attack. (IDF Spokesperson Unit)
The pre-dawn attack came in two waves. They targeted the Ras Isa oil terminal in the Red Sea, the ports of Hodeidah and Salif, and the D’Habban and Haziz power plants in Sana’a, according to reports.
in july A Houthi drone killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, resulting in an IAF attack on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. Israeli jets also carried out dozens of strikes in the Hodeidah area in September.
In total, the Houthis have fired more than 200 missiles and 170 drones against Israel since Hamas on Oct. 1, Sept. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people since then. The Houthis also attacked more than six commercial ships, especially in Bab El Mandeb. It is the southern sea gateway to Egypt’s Suez Canal.
“The distance to Yemen is about the longest the IAF has ever flown, but they can extend that distance with more fuel,” said Brig. Gen. (again) Relik Shafir, a former IAF pilot. who participated in Operation Opera, the attack on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor on June 7, 1981, told Fox News Digital
“It is uncomfortable for pilots to sit in an F-15, F-16 or F-35 for seven hours. You have to be fully conscious and have the highest level of focus,” he continued. “Israel can attack its existing enemies far enough. And the Air Force uses guided missiles that fire with an accuracy of two or three feet.”
Yahya Sinwar, the dead leader of the Hamas terrorist group, on a poster in Tehran. Iran on 1 Aug. 13 Nov. 2024 (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
on monday Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a warning to the Houthis: “We will attack their strategic infrastructure. and beheaded their leaders Just like we do (Former Hamas leader Ismail) Haniyeh Sinwar and Nasrallah In Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon – we will do it in Hodeidah and Sanaa.”
Jerusalem had previously not been held responsible for the July 31 killing of Haniyeh, who had traveled to the Iranian capital to accept the country’s presidential inauguration.
last Friday US Defense Department spokesman Gen. Pat Ryder said the Israelis “There’s definitely a right to defend yourself.”
Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and his bodyguard were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on August 8, October 1, 2024 in Tehran. (Cem Tekkesinoglu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The Houthis “are a danger to everyone in the Middle East,” former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy told Fox News Digital.– –Ultimately, most countries in the region will be interested and willing to cooperate in efforts to end these attacks. which has no reason at all.”
Israeli airstrikes target the capital SANAA, which is controlled by Yemen’s Houthis. Hodeida port city
Israeli Air Force jets launch strikes in Yemen. (IDF)
Halevi confirmed that “Any type of terrorist activity is a challenge that must be faced with an appropriate response. The Houthis suffered losses. And if they continue to provoke us We must do more.”
In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition launched a military intervention against the Houthis at the request of then Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi. who were expelled from Sana’a last September Yemen’s civil war remains stalled. by a government that is internationally recognized It has been led by the Presidential Leadership Council since 2022 in the city of Aden, in the south of the country. Since February 2015
A source close to the government told Israel’s Kan television station on Saturday that Jerusalem should launch assassination of Houthi leaders As the Saudi news agency Al-Arabiya reported, Senior Houthi officials have fled Sana’a over concerns they will be targeted.
“We need to understand more deeply what is hindering the Houthis’ ability to operate,” former Israeli national security adviser Eyal Hulata told Fox News Digital. “For this We need more intelligence, more assessment and more coordination between different parties.”
Houthi fighters install heavy machine guns on vehicles at a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. (Mohammed picture Hamoud/Getty)
Hulata raises big questions about whether the Houthis will continue to be a threat. If Israel and Hamas agree to a ceasefire
“If they become an important enemy Israel will have to deal with this by directing the resources it hopes to avoid. And maybe there is still hope,” he said.
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last Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israelis to be “patient” as talks with Jerusalem prepare to intensify the campaign against the Houthis.
“We will take strong, determined and complex action, even if it takes time. But the outcome remains the same,” he vowed, “just as we have taken strong action against the terrorist groups of Iran’s evil core. We will act against the Houthis as well.”
