The leaders of the Iran-backed Houthi group ignored Benjamin Netanyahu's threats to strike them and destroy infrastructure in areas under their control, and continued the escalation by launching ballistic missiles and drones towards Israel, as Tel Aviv confirmed intercepting a ballistic missile and a drone on Monday and Tuesday.

While the group claimed responsibility for the attacks on Israel and threatened more, it escalated in another direction on the internal field level in Taiz Governorate (southwest), which led to the outbreak of violent nighttime clashes with the Yemeni army forces, the latter announcing that it had inflicted 8 deaths and 15 injuries on the coup plotters.

The Israeli army reported early Tuesday that sirens sounded in several areas of central Israel after a missile was fired from Yemen, confirming that it was intercepted before it crossed into Israeli territory.

Before announcing the interception of the missile, the Israeli army reported, on Monday evening, that the air force had intercepted a drone launched from Yemen before it penetrated Israeli airspace, according to the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

While no direct injuries were recorded during the two interceptions, the Israeli ambulance service reported that more than 20 people were injured while heading to shelters, some of whom were in a state of panic, after the sirens sounded.

While the Houthis ignored Netanyahu’s repeated threats, the latter informed the Knesset members on Monday that he had ordered the army to destroy the Houthis’ infrastructure. According to Agence France-Presse, Netanyahu said: “I have ordered our armed forces to destroy the Houthis’ infrastructure because we will strike with all our might against anyone who tries to harm us. We will continue to crush the forces of evil with force and skill, even if it takes time.”

The Houthi group's military spokesman, Yahya Saree, announced in a televised statement on Monday evening that his group's forces had carried out two operations against two Israeli targets in the Ashkelon and Jaffa areas using two drones, claiming that they had successfully achieved their goal.

The Iran-backed Houthi group has been launching attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November 19, 2023, in addition to missile and drone attacks towards Israel, under the pretext of supporting the Palestinians in Gaza, a narrative that the Yemeni government describes as misleading.

Last Saturday, the group claimed responsibility for launching a ballistic missile into central Israel. Air defenses were unable to intercept it, and it fell in a square in the middle of residential buildings, causing minor injuries to about 23 Israelis, according to Hebrew media.

The Houthi attack was followed hours later by the US military carrying out strikes targeting a Houthi missile facility and a command and control facility in Sanaa, in parallel with confronting Houthi drone and missile attacks, which led to the crash of a fighter jet after being hit by friendly fire, the first fighter jet Washington has lost since the start of its campaign against the Houthis on January 12, 2023.

Anticipating Israeli revenge

In light of the Houthi escalation, Yemenis are fearfully awaiting Israeli retaliatory operations, especially since Tel Aviv's strikes do not differentiate between a military target and other targets related to the lives of the population subject to the group by force.

According to local Yemeni sources, previous Israeli strikes had caused the targeted ports in Hodeidah to lose 70 percent of their operational capacity, amid fears of further strikes that could lead to the complete disruption of these ports.

Over the course of more than a year, the Houthis have claimed responsibility for launching about 370 missiles and drones towards Israel, but they have had no tangible offensive effect, except for a drone that killed a person after exploding in an apartment in Tel Aviv on July 19, and a school was severely damaged by the explosion of a missile warhead on December 19, and about 23 people were injured by another missile that exploded last Saturday, December 21.

These Houthi attacks prompted a response from Israel on July 20, targeting fuel depots in the port of Hodeidah, killing 6 people and wounding about 80 others.

On September 29, Israel bombed fuel depots in Hodeidah and Ras Issa port, and targeted two power plants in Hodeidah, in addition to the city’s airport, which has been out of service for years. These raids resulted in the deaths of 4 people and the injury of about 30 people.

The strikes were repeated on December 19, when Israeli aircraft launched about 14 raids on the three ports of Hodeidah, controlled by the Houthis in western Yemen, and on two power plants in Sanaa, killing 9 people and wounding 3 others.

Escalation in Taiz

In parallel with the regional and naval escalation carried out by the Houthi group, it also escalated on the ground in Taiz Governorate, amidst mobilization, mobilization, and military operations of its followers in all areas under its control.

Residents of Taiz reported the outbreak of violent nighttime clashes in which medium and heavy weapons were used. The official website of the Yemeni army said that its forces thwarted, on Monday evening, "an attack by the terrorist Houthi militias" on the northwestern front of the city.

September Net quoted field sources as saying that “Houthi militias attempted to advance towards army positions on the air defense front northwest of Taiz city, and that army forces thwarted the attempt and forced the militia elements to flee after inflicting heavy losses in lives and equipment.”

For his part, the media center of the Taiz military axis reported that 8 Houthis were killed and 15 wounded during the operation to repel the attack on army positions on the air defense front northwest of the city, at midnight Monday - Tuesday.

The clashes came hours after a child was killed and three others were injured, from one family, after their house was hit by a Houthi shell in the village of Al-Bumiyah in the Maqbanah district, west of Taiz governorate.

The official media quoted local sources as saying that the Houthis directly targeted a house in the village with a mortar shell, which resulted in the death of the child, Deeb Bakr Qaed Mahyoub (4 years old), and the injury of three other children: Shaima Bakr Qaed Mahyoub (6 years old), Marial Bakr Qaed Mahyoub (8 years old), and Abdul Haq Ali Qaed Mahyoub (3 years old) with scattered shrapnel.

The Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism in the Yemeni government, Muammar Al-Eryani, condemned the attack, which he described as a “heinous crime,” and said that it comes “in continuation of the brutal and deliberate crimes that the Houthi militias have been committing on a daily basis against civilians in Taiz Governorate since their brutal coup.”

Al-Eryani said that the group’s approach of targeting civilians by bombing residential neighborhoods, popular markets, and civil institutions “embodies its brutality and terrorism, reflects the extent of its disregard for international laws, humanitarian and moral values, increases suffering, and deepens the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.”

In an official statement, the Yemeni minister called on the international community, the United Nations, its special envoy, and human rights organizations and bodies to condemn the incident, immediately classify the Houthis as a “global terrorist organization,” freeze their assets, and prosecute their leaders involved in committing crimes.