The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that it had deployed missile boats in the Red Sea in response to recent attacks carried out by the Iran-backed Houthi militia.
The deployment comes a day after the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for launching attacks towards Israel and pledged to continue.
Images released by the Israeli military showed Saar-class corvettes patrolling near the Eilat port in the Red Sea.
Israeli missile ships deployed in the Red Sea
Today's deployment follows long-range missile and drone attacks from Yemen.
Saar-class corvettes patrol the Red Sea port area of Eilat, an area that Israel considers a new front in its war with the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/IjJh2jrJ14
— Sprinter (@Sprinter99800) November 1, 2023
Israel views this region as a new front in the conflict as its ongoing war in Gaza has drawn retaliatory actions from Iran-aligned pro-Hamas forces throughout the region from Lebanon and Syria.
The Houthis disclosed that they had launched three drone and missile attacks against Israel since the beginning of the Hamas-Israel conflict which began on October 7 when thousands of Hamas militants invaded Israel, killing at least 1,400 and kidnapping 239 more.
Before the Yemeni announcement, Israeli media reported following the operation that “Yemeni militants launched a ground-to-surface missile with a range of between 1,000 and 1,500 kilometers,” noting that the missile carried hundreds of kilograms of explosives.
This comes after the spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced earlier today the launch of “a large batch of ballistic and winged missiles, in addition to a large number of drones, at multiple enemy targets in the occupied territories.”
Saree confirmed that this operation is the “third operation in support of our oppressed brothers in Palestine,” and he vowed that the Yemeni Armed Forces will continue “carrying out more qualitative strikes” until the Israeli aggression on Gaza, which has been ongoing for 25 days, ceases.
Worthless US threats
The United States threatened Yemen through Oman, a mediator between the two nations, which led the Yemeni Armed Forces to launch missiles at “Israel”, Ansar Allah politburo member Mohammad Al-Bukhaiti said on Tuesday.
Despite the US threats, Yemeni leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi ordered that missiles be launched at “Israel” following the ground aggression on Gaza, Al-Bukhaiti told Al Mayadeen.
Sanaa “achieved national unity by attacking Israel,” he said, making the revelation that some parties that were at war with Ansar Allah pledged to fight alongside it in any confrontation with the Israeli occupation.
