The IDF on Wednesday attacked Yemen’s Sanaa International Airport in response to several Houthi ballistic missile attacks fired against Israel over the last week.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said the air force destroyed the last airplane the Houthis still had to use at the airport after Israel had already struck it multiple times in the past several months.
Katz continued, saying that Israel had or was in the process of instituting an aerial and naval blockade on the Houthis to try to deter them from future attacks on the Jewish state.
The Jerusalem Post has learned that the defense minister did not mean that a physical blockade of Israeli naval ships is or will be positioned off Yemen’s coast to prevent maritime commerce but that Israel’s repeated attacks on the Houthis’ major maritime ports and international airport will prevent countries or businesses from coming anywhere near those areas to avoid getting caught up in the conflict.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also confirmed the Israeli strike, adding, “Anyone who doesn’t understand this through force will understand it through even greater force.”
“But as I have said many times, the Houthis are just the symptom. The main force behind them is Iran, and it is responsible for the aggression coming from Yemen.”
Houthis fire over 400 times since war began
To date, the Houthis have fired well over 400 times at Israel since the start of the war, using a mix of ballistic missiles and drones.
Although only one Israeli was killed by a drone in July 2024, the missiles have significantly disrupted the fabric of life in Israel, often requiring millions of Israelis to dash into safe rooms and causing many international airlines to pull out of flying to Israel, especially after a near miss of Ben-Gurion Airport earlier this month.
Until July 2024, the IDF left responding to the Houthis to the US, but since then, Jerusalem has ordered around 10 strikes on Houthi assets at the Port of Hodeidah, Sanaa International Airport, other ports, and against some electrical facilities.
There was also a brief period earlier in 2025 when the Trump administration was striking the Houthis harder, but after reaching a deal with the Yemeni terror group that it would stop attacking US shipping, Washington left Israel on its own against the Houthis.
The terrorist organization also did not fire on Israel during the January 19 to early March ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The two main ways that top Israeli officials believe the Houthis can be stopped from firing on Israel are by another ceasefire with Hamas or if the Houthis’ Sunni opponents in Yemen can be helped to dethrone them from control of much of the country.
However, without US support for such a move, few think Israel can project sufficient power to help the Houthis’ Sunni opponents gain the upper hand.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.