The Middle East is witnessing a new military escalation after Israel launched air strikes on targets near the port of Hodeidah in Yemen, in response to an attack by the Houthi group, in a development that represents an important turning point in the course of the unrest that the region has been experiencing since October 7.
With the war in Gaza continuing and tensions rising on the Lebanese-Israeli border, the latest attack raises concerns that the conflict could spread to other parts of the region, raising questions about Israel’s motives and goals behind it and its potential impact on the regional scene.
“Restoration and Message”
Strategic expert and former Israeli intelligence officer, Avi Melamed, believes that the main goal of the Israeli attack was to “restore Israeli deterrence” in the region.
Melamed explained in a statement to Alhurra that since October 7, Israel has been facing a group of parties on several fronts, whether in Gaza against Hamas or in the north of the country against Hezbollah, or being exposed to attacks by the Houthis and Iraqi militias.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli army announced that Israeli air defenses intercepted a surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen, while the Yemeni Houthi group said that it targeted the city of Eilat overlooking the Red Sea in Israel with several missiles.
The Israeli attack came after the Houthis launched a drone on Friday that targeted central Tel Aviv, killing one man and wounding four others.
In response to the attack, Israeli fighter jets launched air strikes on Saturday on targets near the Yemeni port of Hodeidah, which Israel said were Houthi military targets.
Medical sources in Yemen told Reuters on Sunday that six people were killed and 80 others were wounded in Israeli air strikes, all of them civilians.
Images from the targeted area showed a raging fire and thick smoke rising.
The attack, which Israeli officials said was in response to more than 200 attacks by the Houthi group against Israel, raised concerns about the possibility of the conflict spreading.
Since November, the Iran-backed Houthis have been launching missile and drone attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea that they believe are linked to Israel or heading to its ports, saying this is in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
As a result of this situation, Melamed says, there were those who said that the Israeli deterrent force was weakening and losing its capabilities, and thus this harsh Israeli response came as a “clear message” especially to the Iranian regime, and as proof of Israel’s military and technological progress, and to say that red lines must not be crossed.
Melamed considers the strike a “qualitative” military and strategic operation, noting that it was “a long-range operation reaching 1,800 km, which is greater than the distance between Israel and Iran.
From a technical and technological standpoint, he says that carrying out this operation requires advanced capabilities, whether at the technical level or military training and precise coordination.
Melamed reveals that the Israeli fighters flew through the international zone of the Red Sea and not through the airspace of any country, pointing out that the Saudi denial confirms this.
Brigadier General Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Defense, said that Riyadh has no relation or participation in targeting Hodeidah in Yemen.
He added that Saudi Arabia will not allow any party to violate its airspace.
In this context, Melamed points out that part of the planning and implementation of this complex operation took into account the interests of neighboring countries, stressing that Israel is careful not to violate the sovereign areas of the countries of the region.
The Israeli army spokesman’s unit refused to comment on the details of the operation, or whether it used the airspace of any countries in the region.
“surgery”
The strikes, which targeted the port of Hodeidah on Saturday, which is a major entry point for fuel and humanitarian aid, are the first carried out by Israel in this country.
Researcher and specialist in strategic studies, political and military sciences, Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Harbi, says that this strike is “a message from Israel to Iran and its arms in the region at a time when we are witnessing an escalation, whether on the level of its northern front against Hezbollah or on the level of the Red Sea attacks.”
Al-Harbi added in a statement to Al-Hurra website that this surgical operation is the first of its kind in which Israel targeted what is called in military science a group of “soft targets”, which are fuel and electricity stations and warehouses, via military fighter jets.
Regarding the details of the operation, Al-Harbi says that Israel does not need to cross the airspace of any country in order to carry out the operation, explaining that “the crossing took place in international airspace over the Red Sea (…) in accordance with the Chicago Convention, and the Geneva Convention on the High Seas stipulates the right of passage in the middle.”
Al-Harbi added that the Saudi Ministry of Defense came out and stressed that it would not allow any party, whatever it may be, to violate its airspace.
Hours after the statement in which Saudi Arabia distanced itself from the attacks in Yemen, Riyadh announced on Sunday that it was following with “grave concern” the developments of the military escalation in Yemen, stressing that the Israeli raids “intensify the current tension in the region and harm the ongoing efforts to end the war on Gaza.”
While attempts to extinguish the fires in the port of Hodeidah continued on Sunday, the Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, vowed a “massive response to the Israeli aggression.”
In contrast, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant threatened, on Saturday, with further operations against the Houthis “if they dare to attack Israel.”
The internationally recognized Yemeni government, backed by Saudi Arabia in its war against the Houthis since 2014, denounced the Israeli strikes, holding Israel responsible for “deepening the humanitarian crisis.”
She warned the Houthis against “continuing to mortgage the fate of Yemen and its people and throw them into the group’s absurd battles, in service of the interests of the Iranian regime and its expansionist project in the region.”
Regarding the expected repercussions of this strike, Al-Harbi says that all recent developments in the Middle East should be read in light of the upcoming US elections, noting that the confirmation by the commander of the US Central Command that Washington did not intervene in this strike reflects “US pressure on Israel to avoid any escalation and expansion of the war.”
Al-Harbi added that the Israeli Prime Minister and his far-right allies “are seeking to escape forward and want to shuffle the cards to gain the support of the home front,” pointing out in this context that “they are working to escalate on more than one front.”
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