Israel strikes Houthi targets in Yemen as attacks continue in Lebanon
Israel dramatically struck back against its enemies in the Middle East on Sunday launching missile strikes in Yemen and Lebanon, as ITV News Correspondent John Ray reports from Beirut
Israel's military launched "large-scale" airstrikes targeting Houthis in Yemen on Sunday and continued to carry out strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The IDF said it hit Hodeida and Rass Issa ports along with two power plants in Hodeida city, which is a stronghold for the Iranian-backed Houthis.
At least four people were killed and 33 wounded in the attacks on Hodeida, Houthi-run media reported, with plumes of smoke seen in the air over the city.
The Houthi group said the airstrikes would not stop them from attacking shipping routes and Israel.
The strikes came a day after the Houthi group launched a missile attack on Israel’s Ben Gurion airport as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was arriving.
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, has pledged that the country will strike its enemies no matter how far away they are.
“Our message is clear - for us, no place is too far,” Gallant said on Sunday.
The attacks in Yemen came as Israel carried out further attacks in Lebanon on Sunday, killing dozens of people.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said at least 24 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes that hit two buildings in Ain el-Delb, east of Sidon. The strikes also injured 29 people, the health ministry said.
Videos showed a building swaying and then collapsing after it was struck.
Intensified strikes in Lebanon over the last week have killed seven high-ranking commanders and officials from Hezbollah, including the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
On Sunday, Israel said it had killed another two high-ranking officials - Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council, and top commander, Ali Karaki.
Hezbollah confirmed the deaths, but has yet to launch a major retaliation. It is likely assessing how to meet, communicate and respond to the attacks.
The IDF said it was continuing to strike Hezbollah targets, including “launchers that were aimed towards Israeli territory, structures in which weapons were stored and additional Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure.”
In a video shared along with the statement, the IDF said strikes were conducted in several areas in southern Lebanon, including Marjayoun, Deir Aames and Jouaiyya, as well as towns in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel and Bekaa regions.
“Over the past day, the IDF struck hundreds of Hezbollah terror targets throughout Lebanon,” the IDF statement said, adding it continues to “operate to degrade and dismantle Hezbollah’s capabilities.”
Iran, which backs Hezbollah and has given an assurance of its solidarity in the wake of Nasrallah’s killing, has vowed revenge.
Iran’s envoy to the United Nations on Saturday requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to “condemn Israel’s actions in the strongest possible terms.”
Lebanon and Iran have also declared several days of mourning for Nasrallah.
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Footage from Lebanon's capital shows groups of people sleeping outdoors, trudging up to the mountains, holding infants and a few belongings, after days of intense Israeli strikes.
Israel has vowed to cripple Hezbollah and put an end to 11 months of its fire onto Israeli territory in what Nasrallah described as a “support front” for his ally Hamas in Gaza.
ITV News' John Ray reports from Beirut, where he says there is a "palpable sense of shock" after Nasrallah's assassination
Tens of thousands of people have fled to Beirut and other areas of southern Lebanon in the past week to escape Israel’s bombardment.
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said this week’s escalation had more than doubled the number of people displaced by the conflict in Lebanon.
There are now over 211,000 people displaced, including some of the humanitarian workers who should be responding to the crisis, it said. Around 85,000 of them are sleeping in shelters, it said.
“Humanitarian capacities to respond have been severely overstretched,” it added.
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