Tel Aviv – Amid negotiations for a hostage-for-ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and since the truce with Hezbollah in Lebanon is mostly holding, Jerusalem has an opportunity to direct additional military resources to downsize the Houthi leadership in Yemen, according to the former Israeli officials.
“Israel must accelerate and expand attacks (in Yemen), not only on the national infrastructure but also on the political leadership,” retired Major General Amos Yadlin, the former head of Israeli military intelligence and head of Mind Israel, told Fox News Digital. .
He added, “Targeted killing operations are an option if there is good intelligence to enable such operations. Houthi leaders must meet Sinwar and Nasrallah, and the sooner the better.”
US Navy ships repel a Houthi attack in the Gulf of Aden
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu split on screen with Abdul Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthis. (Getty Images)
An Israeli soldier was killed in an air strike Hezbollah's master of terrorism, Hassan Nasrallah In Beirut, Lebanon, on September 28, while Israeli ground forces liquidated Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on October 17, and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran last summer.
Houthi terrorist leaders:
The Houthis are led by Abdul-Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi (Abu Jibril), whom the US State Department designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2021.
According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), other senior officials include Abdulkhaleq Badr al-Din al-Houthi (Abu Younis), commander of the Republican Guard (Presidential Reserve), who was also blacklisted by the United States in 2021; Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi (Abu Ahmed), member of the Supreme Political Council; And Abdul Karim Amir al-Din Hussein al-Houthi, Minister of Interior and Director of the Executive Office of Ansar Allah.
An undated photo of the terrorist Houthi leader Abdul Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi. FDD's Long War Journal reports that he has been designated by the State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2021. (FDD's Long War Magazine)
Joe Trosman, a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital that intelligence-based assassinations take time, and that, so far, the Israelis have been preoccupied with Gaza and Lebanon.
“But it is possible,” Trosman said. “We have seen Israel targeting nuclear and military scientists in Iran. This could be repeated in Yemen. If the Houthis continue these attacks, more of Israel’s focus will shift to them.”
Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Israel and a senior fellow at the Washington-based JINSA think tank, explained to Fox News Digital the complexity of such attempts.
The US military carries out successful air strikes on Houthi rebel forces in Yemen
An image obtained from the Ansarallah Houthi media center in Yemen shows a huge column of fire erupting after Israeli army raids on the coastal city of Hodeidah, controlled by the Yemeni rebels, on July 20, 2024. (Ansarallah Media Center/AFP via Getty Images)
Amidror said: “You have to make sure that the target is in the place you are bombing. If he has three houses, how do you know which house he is in? You need real-time information,” noting that it is relatively easy. That Israel would strike Nasrallah from the moment he knew his exact location.
He said, “It took between 15 and 20 minutes to strike (Hezbollah headquarters) in Beirut because it is very close to Israel.” He added: “Yemen is a huge logistical operation, requiring aircraft refueling, not to mention the tactical issues on the ground. A completely different type of intelligence is needed.”
Amidror continued: “Both Nasrallah and Sinwar were known enemies, and we collected information about them over many years, but the Houthis were not a priority.” “The way forward is to start ramping up intelligence gathering by building bridges with those who can provide it.”
overnight wednesday, The Israeli Air Force hit the targets About 1,200 miles away in Yemen, after a Houthi missile hit an elementary school in Ramat Gan, east of Tel Aviv.
An IDF profile photo shows Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who the IDF confirmed was killed in a raid in September. (IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
Reports stated that the raids were carried out before dawn in two waves, targeting the Ras Issa oil terminal on the Red Sea, the ports of Hodeidah and Saleef, in addition to the Dahban and Hazeez power plants in Sanaa.
In July, a Houthi drone killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, prompting the Israeli Air Force to strike the Yemeni port of Hodeidah. Israeli aircraft also carried out dozens of raids in the Hodeidah region in September.
Overall, the Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel since the massacre committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed. Since then, the Houthis have also attacked more than sixty commercial ships – particularly in Bab al-Mandab, the southern sea gateway to Egypt's Suez Canal.
“The distance to Yemen is almost the longest the IAF has ever flown, but they can expand that with more refueling,” Brig. Gen. (Res.) Relic Shafir, a former Israeli Air Force pilot who participated in Operation Opera, the attack on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor on June 7, 1981, told Fox News Digital.
He continued: “It is very uncomfortable for a pilot to sit in an F-15, F-16 or F-35 for seven hours. You have to be fully conscious and at your highest level of concentration.” “Israel can strike any enemy far enough away, and the Air Force uses guided missiles that fire accurately up to two or three feet.”
Deceased Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on a poster in Tehran, Iran, August 13, 2024. (Fatima Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a warning to the Houthis, saying: “We will strike their strategic infrastructure and behead their leaders. Just as we did with (former Hamas leader Ismail) Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah, in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon.” “We will do so in Hodeidah and Sanaa.”
Jerusalem had previously declined to take responsibility for the July 31 killing of Haniyeh, who traveled to the Iranian capital to attend the inauguration of the country's president.
On Friday, US Defense Department spokesman Major General Pat Rader said that the Israelis “certainly have the right to defend themselves.”
Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and his bodyguard were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on August 1, 2024 in Tehran. (Cem Teksinoglu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Former Mossad chief Ephraim Halevy told Fox News Digital that the Houthis “pose a danger to everyone in the Middle East.”. “Ultimately, most countries in the region would be interested and willing to cooperate in efforts to put an end to these attacks, which have absolutely no justification.”
Israeli Air Force planes leave to launch raids in Yemen. (IDF)
“Terrorist activity of all kinds represents a challenge that must be met with an appropriate response,” Halevy insisted. “The Houthis have suffered losses, and if they continue to provoke us, we will have to do more.”
In March 2015, the Saudi-led coalition launched a military intervention against the Houthis at the request of then-Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who was ousted from Sanaa last September. The civil war in Yemen is still at a standstill, as the internationally recognized government, led by the Presidential Command Council since 2022, has been based in Aden, in the south of the country, since February 2015.
A source close to that government told Israeli public radio Kan on Saturday that Jerusalem should take the initiative to assassinate Houthi leaders, while the Saudi Al Arabiya channel reported that senior Houthi officials fled Sanaa for fear of being targeted.
“We need to understand more deeply what would paralyze the Houthis’ ability to operate,” former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Holata told Fox News Digital. This is why we need more intelligence, more assessments, and coordination between the various parties.
Houthi fighters carry heavy machine guns mounted on vehicles during a march in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. (Mohamed Hammoud/Getty Images)
The big question, as Holata posed, is whether the Houthis will continue to pose a threat if Israel and Hamas agree to a ceasefire.
He added: “If they become a major enemy, Israel will need to address this by directing the resources it had hoped to avoid — and perhaps still hopes to.”
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On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israelis to be patient while hinting that Jerusalem was preparing to intensify its campaign against the Houthis.
“We will take strong, resolute and sophisticated measures. Even if it takes time, the result will be the same,” he pledged. He added, “Just as we moved forcefully against the terrorist arms of the Iranian axis of evil, we will also move against the Houthis.”
