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Middle East conflict

Houthis say they attacked targets in Israel with drones

The movement attacked military facilities in Jaffa and Ashkelon, military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said

© AP Photo/ Dan Balilty

DOHA, December 10. /TASS/. The Houthis from Yemen's rebel Ansar Allah movement have delivered strikes on military targets in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa neighborhood and Ashkelon with the use of drones, the movement’s military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said.

"This morning, the air force conducted two military operations and attacked military facilities in Jaffa and Ashkelon in occupied Palestine with the use of two drones," he told the Houthi-controlled Al Masirah television channel.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on December 9 that a drone that had been launched from Yemen fell down near the city of Yavne in central Israel. According to the N12 television channel, the drone inflicted "serious damage" to a residential house. IDF's Radio Station Galei Tzahal said that the drone was not detected by the aerial target warning system and no attempts to intercept it were made.

Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip, the Houthis warned that they would launch strikes on Israeli territory while barring ships associated with the Jewish state from passing through the waters of the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until Tel Aviv ceased its military operation against Palestinian radical group Hamas in the embattled enclave. Since mid-November, dozens of civilian ships have been attacked by the Houthi in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

In response to Ansar Allah's actions, the US authorities announced the creation of an international coalition and preparations for an operation codenamed Prosperity Guardian, expected to ensure freedom of navigation and protection of ships in the Red Sea. Since then, the United States and the United Kingdom have been regularly delivering strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

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