In a significant escalation of military operations in the Middle East, the United States conducted a powerful wave of air strikes targeting Houthi terror infrastructure across Yemen, marking a deliberate and forceful response to the ongoing campaign by Iran’s regional proxies to destabilize maritime and regional security. The strikes—described by U.S. Central Command as the largest single wave of attacks carried out in the area to date—were launched in coordination with United Kingdom forces and with intelligence cooperation from regional partners, including Israel.
The strikes—which commenced shortly after midnight local time—targeted dozens of military sites, missile launch platforms, drone storage depots, command centers, air defense systems, and logistical hubs used by the Houthis. The U.S. Department of Defense stated the operations were designed to “degrade the Houthis’ capability to threaten commercial shipping, U.S. and allied naval vessels, and civilian populations in the Red Sea and beyond.”
The Houthi group, formally known as Ansar Allah, has operated as Iran’s primary proxy in Yemen and has launched a relentless campaign of attacks on international shipping, energy infrastructure, and countries deemed adversaries of the Iranian regime. Since the outbreak of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, Houthi forces have dramatically escalated their threats and attacks, directly targeting Israeli territory with long-range missiles and drones and disrupting one of the world’s most critical maritime corridors by indiscriminately attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
According to U.S. and Israeli intelligence, many of the advanced weapons employed by the Houthis—including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and attack drones—have been transferred, funded, or co-developed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). These coordinated assaults have not only endangered international commerce—forcing major shipping lines to reroute vessels thousands of miles around Africa—but have also threatened Israel’s security and stoked regional instability at the behest of Tehran-based command centers.
Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, underscored the intent of the strike: “These operations send a clear signal to Iran and its proxies throughout the region that the United States and its partners will not tolerate attacks on international shipping, the targeting of civilians, or ongoing attempts to destabilize the Middle East.” Israel, which remains engaged in intense military operations against Hamas and other Iranian-backed terror groups following the October 7th massacre—the deadliest antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust—welcomed the strikes, emphasizing the critical link between terrorism in Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria.
Iran’s War by Proxy: The Houthi Threat in Regional Context
Iran’s use of proxies is a foundational pillar of the regime’s regional strategy. The Houthis, like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, form a key component of the self-styled ‘Axis of Resistance’—a network of terror groups orchestrated and armed by Iran to project power far beyond its borders, subvert pro-Western regimes, and wage an unrelenting campaign against Israel.
Since seizing the Yemeni capital of Sana’a in 2014 and triggering a brutal civil war, the Houthis have entrenched their power in northern Yemen by force and have relentlessly suppressed opposition. While the Yemeni conflict has become a humanitarian crisis—largely as a result of Houthi violence and Iranian arms shipments—the group’s expansion of hostilities into the Red Sea and against Israel marks a dangerous new phase. The international community, led by the United States, has repeatedly warned that attacks on shipping threaten freedom of navigation, violate international law, and risk triggering wider conflict.
In recent months, the Houthis have brazenly claimed responsibility for launching ballistic and cruise missiles towards Eilat in southern Israel, employing drones to harass both military and civilian vessels, and integrating their operations into a broader regional war commanded from Tehran. Their stated goal—according to leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi and repeated Houthi propaganda—is to aid ‘fellow resistance forces’ in Gaza and to exact a toll on Western interests unless Israel halts its self-defense operations against Hamas.
Israel’s Response and the Broader War
While Israel has not directly intervened in Yemen’s civil war, the IDF has repeatedly indicated that it regards Houthi missile and drone attacks as intolerable acts of external aggression. In a joint statement following the American strikes, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir condemned international indifference to the rising tide of Iranian-sponsored terror, emphasizing “Israel’s absolute right—and duty—to defend its civilians and secure its maritime and territorial sovereignty.”
Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, have consistently placed Houthi aggression in the same category as the threats posed by Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Iranian-backed groups waging war on Israel’s borders. The attacks of October 7th—when Hamas and allied terrorists invaded southern Israel, slaughtered more than 1,200 civilians in an orgy of antisemitic violence, abducted over 250 innocent hostages, and committed a litany of terror atrocities—underscore the real dangers posed by regional terror axes.
Iran, for its part, has issued repeated threats to escalate in ‘all arenas’ if Israel continues to pursue those responsible for the October 7th massacre and refuses Iranian demands for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Houthis’ active role as a forward base for Iranian strategic interests further confirms the need for a robust and united response from the West.
US-Led Coalition and Multilateral Security Measures
The United States, which maintains a powerful naval presence in the Middle East through the Fifth Fleet headquartered in Bahrain, has, since December, formed Operation Prosperity Guardian—a coalition with the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and several regional states to safeguard shipping in the Red Sea. Dozens of Iranian-supplied drones and missiles have been intercepted, but the task has grown more difficult as the Houthis improve their capabilities and target ever more distant vessels.
The air strikes represent not only a defensive measure but also a deterrent signal to Tehran and its proxies. Washington has repeatedly made clear that it seeks neither escalation nor open war but will not shirk from defending the free flow of commerce or the security of regional allies—particularly Israel.
Regional and Global Reactions
The response to the strikes has been largely positive across Western capitals, with the European Union, NATO, and key maritime states voicing their support for action to protect international trade and deter Iranian-backed aggression. The United Nations Security Council has previously condemned the Houthi attacks, though calls for a binding arms embargo on Iran have been watered down by Russian and Chinese vetoes.
Criticism of the American approach has come from predictable quarters: Iran’s foreign ministry accused the United States and its “Zionist partners” of aggression, while the Houthis pledged to continue their terror operations. The regime in Tehran denied direct oversight of Houthi operations, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.
For Israel, the air strikes serve as a timely reminder to the international community of the dangers posed by unchecked terror networks. As long as Iran continues to exploit collapsed states and radical militias—from Gaza to Lebanon and Yemen—Israel’s security, and the stability of the wider region, will be at perpetual risk. The international campaign to deny Iran and its proxies safe havens is thus inseparable from Israel’s fight for survival after the Holocaust’s worst antisemitic massacre.
Humanitarian Considerations and Propaganda
As in Gaza, Iranian-backed elements in Yemen are quick to exploit civilian suffering for propaganda value, often staging or exaggerating casualties to delegitimize self-defense measures and cloud the distinction between civilian and military targets. The U.S. Department of Defense reiterated that all targets were carefully selected to minimize collateral damage and that the goal remains the restoration of order, freedom of navigation, and the curbing of terror operations.
Historically, civilian populations in Yemen—and across the region—have borne the brunt of Iranian-backed adventurism. The Houthis’ record of recruiting child soldiers, placing weapons in civilian areas, and employing starvation as a weapon of war has been thoroughly documented by international agencies but insufficiently addressed by the UN due to Iran’s misuse of diplomatic leverage.
Conclusion: The War’s Underlying Truths
The wave of American strikes in Yemen is not an isolated event; rather, it is a pivotal episode in a much larger war imposed by Iran and waged by its constellation of regional terrorist networks. The stability of maritime trade, the protection of civilian populations, and the defense of Israel’s right to exist depend upon confronting, deterring, and degrading these armed proxies. The events in Yemen, like those in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, illustrate the indivisibility of the Iranian terror axis—a reality the world ignores at its peril.
Israel’s military and diplomatic leadership continue to call for deeper Western resolve, not only to respond to atrocities but to prevent them. As the region’s only democracy and the principal target of the Iranian regime, Israel stands at the frontline of a broader civilizational struggle, one in which the lines could not be clearer: between democratic self-defense and relentless terror.
