Sources close to the Yemeni militia quoted by Al-Akhbar said that in response to the Israeli retaliatory strike on the Houthi-controlled Hodeida port in western Yemen on Saturday, itself a response to a deadly Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv, Houthi military leaders have added new items to their “target bank.”
The Yemeni rebel group — in cooperation with other members of the so called Axis of Resistance of Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria — was said to be planning to hit the Israeli Mediterranean ports of Ashdod, Ashkelon and Haifa, in addition to the Red Sea port of Eilat.
The Israeli gas fields in the Mediterranean were also reportedly in the Houthis’ crosshairs, as well as oil tankers transporting fuel from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to Israel through the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Houthis were also said to be planning to target maritime trade in the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, with the rebel group reportedly aiming to use long-range projectiles to target “enemy maritime trade” directed toward the Cape of Good Hope along African coasts.
The route is much longer than the one through the Suez Canal, but has become increasingly popular since the Houthis began targeting ships transiting through the Red Sea with alleged connections to Israel, the United States, or Britain. READ MORE