Israel’s strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen overnight Wednesday struck a humiliating blow to the rebel forces due to the attack on critical electrical power infrastructure in the capital city of Sana’a, Ynet war correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai wrote.

However, Ben-Yishai continued, the IDF strikes are not enough to deter the Houthis from continuing their missile and drone strikes on Israel or international maritime vessels.

The Houthis are a Shiite jihadi group fueled by an extremist Islamist ideology. Their only concern is proving they can continue their mission as part of Iran’s Axis of Resistance and attack Israel in support of Hamas.

The Houthis could care less about the Yemeni civilian population. This was proven after they attacked Saudi Arabia in 2015 and Saudi retaliatory strikes killed many innocent civilians and caused a famine for tens of thousands.

The Biden administration then forced Saudi Arabia to end their attacks and even removed the Houthis from the US terror list to allow humanitarian aid to be brought in through the Hodeida port.

Ben-Yishai believes that the only way to deal with the Houthi threat to Israel’s home front and world trade is a resolute military operation that will eliminate its leaders and destroy its military capabilities.

Ben-Yishai clarified that the Houthis are not “a primitive bunch of barefooted tribes,” but “a real terrorist military force that is well armed with the latest Iranian weapons, including drones and ballistic missiles. Their production in Yemen – with Iranian know-how, must be stopped and their warehouses destroyed, so that they are no longer a problem for the world.”

Israel and the US-led coalition in the Gulf must define the Houthis as a primary threat that must be addressed via intelligence on their launch and production sites so they can be destroyed.

However, Ben-Yishai noted that Israel and even CENTCOM may not have that intelligence at hand as obtaining intelligence from such a distant country requires great efforts that the US is not motivated to engage in and Israel lacks the resources to obtain.

The distance between Israel and Yemen is also a challenge, requiring Israeli fighter jets to refuel midway and require command and control aircraft in the air, regional coordination and more.

Ben-Yishai added that it would require dozens of fighter jets, even over 100, to strike the Houthi launch sites and command, most of which are in the Sana’a area in central Yemen.

“CENTCOM and the U.S. Navy have such a large fleet of planes, cruise missiles and interceptors on their carriers and warships in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen but the Biden administration has limited their actions, to prevent regional war,” he wrote.

Due to the Biden administration’s concerns, the attack carried out on the Houthis by US and the UK earlier this month was on empty command posts near Sana’a and caused only minimal damage.

Ben-Yishai concludes that although Iran backs the Houthis, nevertheless, their leaders must be targeted just like the leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas were. This might spur the legitimate rulers of Yemen, to rise against the rebels like what happened in  Syria.

“Without significant military action, the threat from Yemen will persist,” Ben-Yishai warned.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)