Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 97?

Sirens were heard at the US Embassy in Iraq Thursday night, according to reports on social media.

Reports of a bomb, shared at about 02:00 Israel time in The Jerusalem Post's sister publication Maariv, could not be confirmed as of later that night and appear to have been unsubstantiated. 

The reports came after the US and Britain struck dozens of targets across Yemen, according to some reports, ranging from training bases to drone facilities. 

Supporters of Yemen's Houthis hold a poster of the top Houthi leader Abdul-Malik Badruddin al-Houthi during a rally in Sanaa in September 2021. (credit: REUTERS)

Iranian-backed groups had warned they would respond to attacks on Houthis

It was believed to be the first time the United States had struck the Houthis since 2016, following months of attacks by the Iranian-backed rebel group against ships in the Red Sea that the group considered linked to Israel. 

Reliable information on the events in Iraq was sparse, but the preliminary reports came after a previous warning by Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq that they would attack an American base with "everything in [their] power" should the US hit Houthi targets. 

US President Joe Biden has said the US military, together with the UK, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels. The US will not hesitate to direct further measures after airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, he said. He added that these strikes are in direct response to Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in Red Sea.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed the attack had been carried out by the Royal Air Force, targeting strikes against military facilities used by Houthi rebels. He stated that his country will always stand up for freedom of navigation and free flow of trade.

Furthermore, he said, the Royal Navy will continue to patrol the Red Sea as part of the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian to deter further Houthi aggression. 

Raids were conducted on several Yemeni cities in the early hours of Friday, an official from the Houthi movement said.

"American-Zionist-British aggression against Yemen launches several raids on the capital, Sanaa, Hodeidah governorate, Saada, and Dhamar," Houthi official Abdul Qader al-Mortada said on X.

American and British attacks on Houthi targets inside Yemen Thursday night were being carried out not only from the air, but also from ships and submarines, a US official told Reuters.

The United States and Britain have started carrying out strikes against targets linked to Houthis in Yemen, four US officials told Reuters on Thursday, the first time strikes have been launched against the Iran-backed group since it started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea late last year.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group of Iranian-backed militias, said in a statement Thursday night that if Yemen is attacked, "we will attack the Americans' base with everything in our power." 

The statement came amid reports that the United States and Britain were likely to strike Houthi targets. 

Britain is expected to join the United States in conducting air strikes on military positions belonging to the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen "within hours," the political editor for the Times newspaper reported on Thursday.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Downing Street office did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment, while the Pentagon and the White House each declined to comment on the report.

US condemns Houthi attack 

The US typically does not comment on potential future military operations.

"The Houthis need to stop these attacks ... they will bear the consequences for any failure to do so," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday.

Type 23 frigate HMS Richmond (top) conducts a Replenishment at Sea (RAS) with RFA Black Rover. (credit: FLICKR)

UK premier briefs cabinet ahead of imminent military intervention

Sunak briefed his cabinet of ministers on the imminent military intervention earlier on Thursday, the Times said.

British media also reported that other political figures, including the leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, as well as the speaker of the House of Commons, had been briefed by the government.

Three residents of Yemen's Hodeidah told Reuters the city has been on alert since Thursday evening, with the heavy deployment of Houthi forces and movement of military trucks. Houthi military sites and camps in Hodeidah were also being evacuated, they said.

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel's war in Gaza. Various shipping lines have suspended operations, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.

The US military said the Houthis earlier on Thursday had staged their 27th attack on shipping since November 19, firing an anti-ship ballistic missile into international shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden.

Earlier this week, US and British naval forces shot down drones and missiles fired by the Houthis toward the southern Red Sea.

The Houthis, who seized much of Yemen in a civil war, have vowed to attack ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports. However, many of the targeted ships have had no links to Israel.

The IDF has been working to expose and dismantle terror tunnels created by Hamas in Gaza, constructed with critical infrastructure abused by Hamas, the IDF revealed Thursday. The tunnels span hundreds of kilometers underneath the Gaza Strip.

Data collected by IDF ground troops, in addition to an in-depth analysis of tunnels exposed by security forces to date, has allowed the IDF to determine precisely how much of each material was needed to build such an extensive network. 

Data revealed that over 6,000 tons of concrete and 1,800 tons of metal were used to build hundreds of kilometers of underground infrastructure, costing tens of millions of dollars. 

What could have been done with Gaza aid money used by Hamas?

Civilian infrastructure was in turn not built, using critical aid funding and supplies to construct tunnels under the strip. Hamas used massive amounts of resources to carry out continued terrorist activity. 

The IDF’s Combat Engineering Corps and the Yahalom Combat Engineering Unit continue operations to dismantle Hamas's underground terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

These actions are expected to erase the threats the tunnels pose.

At least seven people were wounded after Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets from Lebanon at Israel's north on Thursday afternoon, according to the Kiryat Shmona municipality. Rockets fell on both a building and a school, Israeli media reported.

Power outages were also reported across the upper Galilee, according to reports by Israeli media.