UPDATE 3 - 9 killed as Israel strikes power plants, port, oil facility in Yemen

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS, CHANGES DECK

By Merve Berker

ANKARA (AA) - Israel launched deadly airstrikes on power plants, a port, and an oil facility in Yemen that left nine people killed, marking an escalation in its conflict with Houthi fighters, reports said Thursday.

Houthi-aligned TV channel Al-Masirah reported that the Israeli raids on Al-Hudaydah left nine people killed and three others injured.

The broadcaster earlier reported that the strikes hit two power plants in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and caused damage to an oil facility and the port of Al-Hudaydah.

Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the strikes hit energy and port infrastructure, which he alleged the Houthis “have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military action” against Israel.

“Israel will not hesitate to act in order to defend itself and its citizens from the Houthi attacks,” Hagari also said.

The Israeli army said that 14 fighter jets, along with refuelers and spy planes, took part in two waves of airstrikes in Yemen.

A military statement said the first wave of strikes targeted
Al-Hudaydah, including hitting eight tugboats in the city’s port, while the second wave targeted two power stations in Sanaa.

The Houthi-run Saba News Agency earlier said that Israeli warplanes carried out six raids on two power plants in southern and northern Sanaa and six others on Al-Hudaydah, killing several people.

The raids on Al-Hudaydah targeted the city's port and the Ras Isa oil facility.

“The enemy launched four aggressive raids targeting the port … and two raids targeting the oil facility,” Al Jazeera quoted the channel as saying.

In a later statement, the Houthi group said that its fighters had hit two "specific and sensitive military targets" with hypersonic ballistic missiles in the Jaffa region near Tel Aviv in central Israel.

The Israeli army confirmed that a missile was fired and intercepted, with debris falling near Ramat Gan city near Tel Aviv.

No injuries were reported.

The Houthis, in solidarity with Gaza where over 45,000 people have been killed in a brutal Israeli offensive since last year, have targeted Israeli cargo ships or those associated with Tel Aviv in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, expressing their determination to continue operations until the end of the onslaught on the enclave.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report