Yemen gears up for ‘long war’ against Israel

Sanaa announced targeting the port of Eilat on Sunday morning, hours after a brutal Israeli attack on the western Yemeni city of Hodeidah

News Desk - The Cradle 

The Armed Forces of Yemen’s Sanaa government announced an attack on the southern Israeli port city of Eilat on 21 July, one day after Israeli jets violently bombarded Hodeidah province in response to the unprecedented Yemeni drone strike on Tel Aviv. 

Sanaa’s statement also announced an operation targeting a US ship in the Red Sea. 

“The missile force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out an [effective] military operation targeting important targets in the Umm al-Rashrash area in southern occupied Palestine with a number of ballistic missiles, and achieved its goals successfully, thanks to God,” Yemeni army spokesman Yahya Saree said. 

“The naval forces, the unmanned air force, and the missile force of the Yemeni armed forces carried out a joint military operation targeting the American ship Pumba in the Red Sea with a number of ballistic missiles and drones. The operation led to a direct hit on the ship,” the statement added. 

The Israeli army said it intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Yemen outside its airspace. Sirens sounded in the southern port city, which has been attacked numerous times by Yemeni forces since the start of the war in Gaza. 

Israeli warplanes launched heavy raids on Yemen's western port city of Hodeidah on 20 July, targeting fuel depots and oil refineries as well as the province's power station. According to an updated toll from Sanaa’s Health Ministry, six people were killed in the Israeli attack, and at least 83 were wounded, mostly with severe burns. 

The bombing was a response to the unprecedented Yemeni drone attack on Tel Aviv on 19 July, which killed one Israeli and injured several others. Hebrew media described the attack as a dangerous escalation that marks a new phase in the war – referring to the inability to prevent the attack as a “mega-failure.”

Several Yemeni officials have publicly vowed since the bombing of Hodeidah that a response will come, and that the operations against Israel will continue and increase.

“Yemen's response is coming and will be painful and agonizing. You will not escape punishment … The battle is long, and the Zionists must pay a heavy price and endure the strikes. The hand is on the trigger. Yemen does not have the word ‘overlook’ in its dictionary, nor does it stand idly by in the face of any criminal aggression,” Ansarallah political bureau member Ali al-Qahoum said on 21 July. 

Saree announced in a statement on Saturday night that Sanaa is preparing for a “long war” with Israel. 

The Yemeni army and Ansarallah movement “will not stop their operations in support of our brothers in Gaza, whatever the repercussions and whatever the results, and they are preparing, with the help of God Almighty, for a long war with this enemy until the aggression stops and the siege is lifted,” Saree said. 

“Today, as we enter into a direct war [with Israel], this means that our target bank will expand …. We know when and where to strike … and the surprises will be significant,” Information Minister in the Sanaa government, Dhaifallah al-Shami, told Al-Mayadeen on 20 July. 

An anonymous Yemeni source told Al-Mayadeen on Saturday that “the war has become direct with the occupying entity,” and that “operations in Yaffa [Tel Aviv] will continue, and Yemen will not be content with just a response; the Yemeni army's target bank may expand.”