Yemen’s Houthis say retaliation for Israel port strike ‘inevitable

The leader of Yemen’s Houthis said Thursday that retaliation for an Israeli strike on a port under the control of yemeni forces was inevitable.

A response to Israel’s July 20 attack that targeted fuel storage tanks in Hodeida harbor is “inevitable and will come,” Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech.

The battle with Israel was “at its zenith,” he added.

The delayed response by the Houthis and allies to Israel’s latest moves was “purely tactical,” the Houthis’ chief said.

“The aim is a genuinely impactful response” in light of preemptive defense measures taken by Israel and its American backers, he added.

The Hodeida strike was the first claimed by Israel on Yemen.

It came a day after the Houthis launched their first fatal strike on Israel – a drone attack in Tel Aviv that killed an Israeli civilian.

The Israeli response decimated the port’s fuel storage capacity and killed at least nine people, according to the Houthis.