Ex-Israeli foreign minister calls for ‘complete destruction’ of Yemeni port Al Hudaydah

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Former Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on Sunday for the "complete destruction" of the port of Al Hudaydah in western Yemen.

“We must completely destroy the port of Al Hudaydah,” Lieberman, the head of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, told Army Radio.

He claimed that the port is “the main gateway for the supply of Iranian weapons to the Houthis.”

At least three people were killed and 87 others injured in Israeli airstrikes targeting the port of Al Hudaydah, its fuel tanks, and its power station on Saturday, according to the Houthi-run Health Ministry.

The Israeli army claimed responsibility for the raids, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described them as a "direct response" to a drone attack launched by the Houthi group on Tel Aviv on Friday, which killed an Israeli and injured 10 others.

The Houthis have been targeting ships that are Israeli-owned, flagged, operated or headed to Israeli ports in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, where more than 38,900 people have been killed in a deadly Israeli offensive since Oct. 7, 2023.