Smoke rises from the site of Israeli air strikes in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemen.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Israel's military on Sunday attacked its enemies in two countries and the Gaza Strip, including with a long-distance airstrike in Yemen amid escalating violence between Israel and its Iranian-backed proxies across the Middle East, inching the combatants closer to regional war.
Israel's show of military force reached from Lebanon, where Israeli forces targeted Hezbollah, to the province of Hodeidah in Yemen, where its warplanes flew more than 1,000 miles to attack power plants and shipping infrastructure. At the same time, the military's war against Hamas in Gaza continues, and movements by the Israeli army along its northern border over the weekend suggested preparations for a possible ground invasion of Lebanon.
"The IDF is determined to continue operating at any distance -- near or far -- against all threats to the citizens of the state of Israel," the Israeli military said Sunday, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
The strikes over the weekend came after a spate of attacks by Israel's military and intelligence forces, including operations that turned pagers and walkie-talkies into bombs that killed or maimed Hezbollah militants, and a bombing Friday that killed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's longtime leader.
The operations were part of a broader strategy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, to create a new balance of power in the Mideast in which Israel's status is unquestioned.
"Our foes and friends view Israel again for what it is: a strong, determined and powerful state," he said.
The recent attacks appeared to strengthen Netanyahu's hand both militarily and politically. After nearly a year of war in Gaza, Netanyahu's governing coalition had grown increasingly fragile at home and isolated abroad. But he appeared to gain political ground Sunday as he welcomed Gideon Saar, a former justice minister and a past critic, who joined his governing coalition.
"In recent days, the government led by Netanyahu has shown a commendable resolve," Saar said Sunday. "The IDF has operated perfectly."
Although Israel's military operations Sunday were wide in scope, they were limited in intensity compared to attacks last week, when Israel bombed a densely populated neighborhood near Beirut that leveled buildings and killed Nasrallah. The Hezbollah leader was considered by many the most famous and important militia figure in Iran's "axis of resistance" against Israel.
Iran-backed militias fired missiles at Israel, with Houthi militants in Yemen launching a ballistic missile. The Houthi missile was shot down before reaching Israeli airspace, according to Israel's military.
Israel's military operation targeting Yemen involved dozens of Israeli fighter jets and refueling and reconnaissance aircraft, the Israeli military said. The jets attacked power plants and a seaport that the Israeli military said were used to transfer weapons from Iran into the region.
At least four people were killed in Hodeidah, Yemen, including a port worker and three engineers at the Al-Hali power station, and at least 33 people were injured, according to Al-Masirah, the Houthi-run television channel. Rescue teams were still searching for people in the rubble of the power station, according to an eyewitness, and the death toll could rise.
Nasruddin Amer, a Houthi spokesperson, said in a post on the social network X that oil depots at Yemen's ports in Ras al-Issa and Hodeidah had been emptied of their petroleum in advance. He warned the strikes would not prevent further missile attacks on Israel.
"We're at war with the Zionist enemy and our operations will not stop," Amer said in a text message.
Destroying port infrastructure could have major consequences for Yemen, where 4.5 million people have fled their homes after nine years of civil war.
"Over half of Yemen's population is dependent on humanitarian aid," and much of it flows in through ports in the country's north, said Niku Jafarnia, a researcher for Human Rights Watch focusing on Yemen.
"The humanitarian importance" of the ports "cannot be understated," Jafarnia said.
Israel also launched attacks on dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday, targeting rocket launchers and buildings that it said were used for storing weapons. A strike Saturday killed more members of Hezbollah's senior leadership, Israel's military said, including Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of the group's central council.
The strikes killed at least 100 people and injured more than 350 others, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatant and civilian casualties.
The attacks between Israel and its foes across three theaters -- Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen -- heightened fears of a wider war, possibly involving Iran itself.
John Kirby, a White House national security spokesperson, acknowledged the civilian casualties in the Israeli bombing that killed Nasrallah and reiterated that the White House wants a cease-fire and a diplomatic solution rather than an all-out war.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on CNN that he worries the failure by Iran's proxies to defend themselves from Israel's military might pressure Iran's leadership to abandon negotiations seeking to loosen sanctions that have crippled its economy, and instead restart its nuclear weapons program.
"What I fear is they'll break out toward a nuclear weapon thinking that that's their insurance policy" to counter the recent setbacks among Iran's proxies, Graham said.
Informed of Israel's attacks in Lebanon on Sunday, Pope Francis was captured on video covering his eyes with his hand. Then he issued a strongly worded statement about the disproportionate use of force.
"When there is something disproportionate, you can see a tendency to dominate that goes beyond morality," Francis said.
The Israeli military strikes stoked civil unrest in other countries. Amid the chaos, inmates at two prisons in Lebanon revolted over the weekend, the country's state-run news agency reported. More than 130 prisoners escaped one of the facilities and were arrested Sunday.
Protesters in Pakistan gathered Sunday and chanted, "Death to Israel," "Down with the US" and "Long live Nasrallah." The demonstration in the southern city of Karachi began peacefully but grew violent as the protest neared the US consulate. Several police officers and protesters were injured.