Israeli army attacks Yemen, US ready to send troops to the Middle East

(Patria) - The Guardian reports on an airstrike on the port city of Al-Hudaydah (Hodeidah) on the Red Sea in Yemen. Reuters reports that fuel tanks were hit. The attacks caused a power outage in most parts of the port city of Hodeidah, residents said.

Al-Hudaydah, which has been under Houthi control since 2021, is crucial for delivering food and other supplies to Yemen's population, which depends on imports. The Iran-backed Houthis have launched missiles and drones at Israel and disrupted global trade through the Red Sea with a series of attacks in response to the Israeli assault on Gaza.

Although Israel has previously carried out attacks on Yemen in response to drone and missile attacks, this appears to be the largest Israeli attack on Yemen involving a large number of aircraft.

The Israeli military confirmed that it struck Houthi military targets in the Ras Issa and Hodeidah areas of Yemen.

"The Israeli Air Force struck Houthi terrorist targets in Yemen - 1,800 km from the State of Israel. Today, during a large-scale intelligence-based aerial operation, we struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in the Ras Issa and Hodeidah areas," the IDF stated in a release.

Israel will not succeed in returning its residents to the north of the country by waging an all-out war against Hezbollah and Iran, said White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby.

"An all-out war with Hezbollah and with Iran is not the way to achieve that. If you want to bring those people home in a safe and sustainable way, we believe the right direction is a diplomatic path," Kirby told CNN.

The United States is monitoring what Hezbollah will do to fill its leadership and "continues to talk to the Israelis about what the right next steps are," Kirby continued.

Lebanon's Health Ministry announced that more than a thousand Lebanese have been killed in the past two weeks, and six thousand have been wounded. The government said that one million residents, a fifth of the total population, have left their homes.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has authorized the military to increase its presence in the Middle East with "defensive" air capabilities and to place other forces on heightened readiness, the Pentagon announced.