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Israeli navy attacks Yemeni port city of Hodeidah for first time in conflict Israeli navy attacks Yemeni port city of Hodeidah for first time in conflict
(about 7 hours later)
Israeli military says port, which receives aid shipments, was being used by Houthi rebels to transfer weaponsIsraeli military says port, which receives aid shipments, was being used by Houthi rebels to transfer weapons
Middle East crisis – latest updatesMiddle East crisis – latest updates
The Israeli navy has attacked docks in Yemen’s rebel-held port city of Hodeidah, targeting facilities that are key to aid shipments to the country. Israel’s navy attacked docks in Yemen’s rebel-held port city of Hodeidah on Tuesday, launching its first seaborne assault against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and warning more could come.
The Israeli military said navy missile ships conducted the strikes, the first time its forces have been involved in attacks against the Houthi rebels. The attack is likely to have damaged facilities that are key to aid shipments to the hungry, war-wracked nation but have also allegedly been used for weapons smuggling as vessels reportedly bypass UN inspectors.
The Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones targeting Israel during Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Both Israel and the US have struck ports in the area in the past – including a US attack that killed 74 people in April – but Israel is now acting alone in attacking the rebels as they continue to fire missiles at Israel over its war on Hamas in Gaza.
The Houthis announced the attack via their satellite news channel Al-Masirah. They said the attack targeted docks there, without elaborating. The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, warned his country’s “long arm in the air and at sea will reach everywhere”.
Late on Monday, Israel had issued warnings online for Yemenis to evacuate from the ports of Ras Isa, Hodeidah and al-Salif. “We warned the Houthi terror organisation that if they continue to fire at Israel they will face a powerful response and enter a naval and air blockade,” he said.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Tuesday: “The port is used to transfer weapons and is a further example of the Houthi terrorist regime’s cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure in order to advance terrorist activities.” The Israeli attack struck Hodeidah, 90 miles south-west of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, on the Red Sea on Tuesday morning. The Houthis offered no immediate damage assessment and there were no videos immediately released by their al-Masirah satellite news channel.
Hodeidah has been the main entry point for food and other humanitarian aid for millions of Yemenis since the war began when the Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, in 2014. “It has no effect even on the morale of our people, who take to the streets weekly … in support of Gaza,” wrote Nasruddin Amer, the deputy head of the Houthis’ media office.
The Houthis have been launching persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The Israeli military said missile boats carried out the attack. It marked a departure for Israel, which previously relied on airstrikes to target the Houthis. Hodeidah is more than 1,180 miles south of Israel’s southern tip, requiring the Israeli military to use aerial refuelling to conduct those strikes.
Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. The threat has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, through which $1tn of goods typically move annually. Israel’s navy, with over 9,000 sailors, has been mainly deployed in the Mediterranean Sea since Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel began the war.
The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. Donald Trump paused those attacks just before making a trip to the Middle East, saying the rebels had “capitulated” to American demands. “The strikes were carried out to stop the use of the port for military purposes,” the Israeli military said, without offering a damage assessment from the attack. “The port is used to transfer weapons and is a further example of the Houthi terrorist regime’s cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure in order to advance terrorist activities.”
Early on Tuesday the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, wrote on the social platform X that US navy ships had travelled through the Red Sea and its Bab el-Mandeb strait “multiple times in recent days” without facing Houthi attacks. Israel has already destroyed all the aircraft used by Yemen’s state carrier, Yemenia, in strikes on Sana’a international airport.
“These transits occurred without challenge and demonstrate the success of both Operation ROUGH RIDER and the President’s Peace Through Strength agenda,” Hegseth wrote ahead of facing Congress for the first time since sharing sensitive military details of America’s military campaign against the Houthis in a Signal chat. Hodeidah has been the main entry point for food and other humanitarian aid for millions of Yemenis since the war began when the Houthis seized Sana’a in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s exiled government considered trying to retake Hodeidah by force in 2018, but ultimately decided against it as international criticism and worries about the port being destroyed grew.
It is unclear how the Houthis will respond now that an attack has come from the sea, rather than the air, from the Israelis. A UN mission operates in Hodeidah, while another screens ships off Djibouti. However, those inspections appear to be no longer catching all vessels heading into Hodeidah. A UN experts’ report last year wrote about receiving a tip that vessels were reaching the Hodeidah area to “unload significant quantities of military materiel.” The Houthis are also believed to use an overland route, via the Gulf of Aden, to smuggle in weapons.
Meanwhile, a wider, decade-long war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country’s exiled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, remains in a stalemate. Iran denies directly arming the Houthis, though UN experts, western nations and analysts have linked weapons in the rebels’ arsenal back to Tehran.
The UN mission monitoring shipping into Yemen did not respond to a request for comment. Dorothy Shea, the US ambassador to the UN, said in a speech in May that more money needed to go to the UN mission.
“Earlier this month, UNVIM [the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism] successfully interdicted four shipping containers of illicit materials bound for Houthi-controlled ports,” she said. “This interdiction clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of this mechanism. We all need to continue supporting its operations.”
The Houthis have been launching persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region, in what the group’s leadership has described as an effort to end Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
From November 2023 until January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, in which £740bn of goods typically move through it annually.
The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire, until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March. President Donald Trump paused those attacks just before his trip to the Middle East, saying the rebels had “capitulated” to US demands.