Tel Aviv: The Israeli air force on July 20 performed a long range strike against the Houthi rebels installations in Yemen. The fighter jets were refuelled in the air in more than 1700 km flight carrying heavy bombs.
The attack occurred one day after an Israeli man was killed in Tel Aviv by a Houthi drone strike. Since the war broke out on October 7, the Houthi rebels, an Iranian proxy have launched ballistic and cruise missiles to hit targets in Israel. The Iranian made Samad 3 hit a building in central Tel Aviv after the Israel air defence sensors did not incremented it.
The attack included refuelling in the air with Boeing 707 (REEM) aerial tankers used at a low altitude flights to evade enemy radars. Israel air control aircraft were also in the air to coordinate the complex operation.
The Israel fighter jets used heavy ammunition that caused big damage and huge fires in the attacked port.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “The port we attacked is not an innocent port. It was used for military purposes, it was used as an entry point for deadly weapons supplied to the Houthis by Iran. They used these weapons to attack Israel, to attack the countries of the region, to attack a shipping route in the Red Sea, one of the most important shipping routes in the world. The operation hit targets 1700 km away from us – and makes it clear to our enemies that there is no place that our long hand cannot reach them.”
Israeli sources said that if the Houthis will continue to target Israel with their Iranian made weapons, more such attacks will be performed ‘not only from the air’.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
