Israel faces missile attack from Yemen days after Houthis back Iran in Gulf war

Israel’s military said Yemen had launched a missile toward Israel early Saturday morning, the first time it had faced fire from that country.
Sirens went off around Beer Sheba and the area near Israel’s main nuclear research center for the third time overnight Friday into Saturday as Iran and Hezbollah continued to fire on Israel overnight.

The Houthis, a rebel group backed by Tehran, have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014. They did not immediately acknowledge launching an attack against Israel.

The Houthis so far had stayed out of the West Asia war as the rebels have had an uneasy ceasefire for years with Saudi Arabia, which launched a war against the group on behalf of Yemen’s exiled government in 2015.

Israel struck Iran’s nuclear facilities hours after threatening to “escalate and expand” its campaign against Tehran on Friday. Iran vowed to retaliate and struck a base in Saudi Arabia, wounding U.S. service members and damaging planes.

The possible entrance of the Houthis into the war also called into question whether the rebels will again targeted commercial shipping traveling through the Red Sea corridor.

The Houthi rebels attacked over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, from November 2023 until January 2025. That would cause further chaos in global shipping, which already is reeling from Iran’s stranglehold over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas once passed.

Prior to the attack from Yemen, there appeared to be a breakthrough as Tehran agreed to allow humanitarian aid and agricultural shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, accepting a request from the UN Ali Bahreini, the country’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said Iran agreed to “facilitate and expedite” such movement.

The vital waterway usually handles a fifth of the world’s oil shipments and nearly a third of the world’s fertilizer trade. While markets and governments have largely focused on blocked supplies of oil and natural gas, the restriction of fertilizer ingredients and trade threatens farming and food security around the world.

The Iranian attack on Prince Sultan Air Base wounded at least 10 American troops, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the situation. Two of them were seriously hurt, according to one of the officials. Both of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters. Several refueling aircraft were damaged.

Bahreini’s announcement came just hours after Iranian state media said two nuclear facilities had come under attack. Israel, which had threatened to “escalate and expand” its campaign against Tehran, claimed responsibility, and Iran quickly threatened to retaliate.
“Iran will exact HEAVY price for Israeli crimes,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said via X.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said the Shahid Khondab Heavy Water Complex in Arak and the Ardakan yellowcake production plant in Yazd Province were targeted, IRNA reported. The strikes did not cause any casualties and there was no risk of contamination, it said.

The Arak plant has not been operational since Israel attacked it last June. Yellowcake is a concentrated form of uranium after impurities are removed from the raw ore. Heavy water is used as a moderator in nuclear reactors..

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