Yemen's Houthis Claim Fresh Attacks Towards Israel

(MENAFN- IANS) Sanaa, May 8 (IANS) Yemen's Houthi group has said that it had launched fresh drone attacks towards Israel, a day after it signed a ceasefire agreement with the US -- a deal the group said does not extend to its operations against Israel.

In a televised statement aired on the group's al-Masirah TV on Wednesday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the group fired two drones at Ramon airport in southern Israel, and launched another drone towards a "vital target" in Tel Aviv.

No details were provided on the results of the strikes or their exact timing, though the Houthi TV reported it was in the past 24 hours.

Also on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had intercepted a drone coming from the east, likely from Yemen.

The Houthi attacks came a day after Israeli Air Forces severely damaged Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport and Hodeidah port on the Red Sea in a series of deadly airstrikes.

On Tuesday, the US and Houthis agreed to an Oman-mediated deal to cease trading attacks after weeks of air strikes.

However, the Houthi group claimed it will continue launching attacks towards Israel until Israel ends its offensive in Gaza and lifts the blockade against Palestinians.

The US will halt its bombing campaign against Yemen's Houthis after the Iran-aligned group agreed to stop targeting shipping in the Red Sea.

The halt -- announced by the US President, Donald Trump, during an Oval Office meeting with Mark Carney, Canada's Prime Minister, came on a day in which Israel claimed its jets had fully disabled Yemen's main airport, including three civilian aircraft on the ground, in retaliation for a missile strike on Sunday that hit within the perimeter of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport.

"The Houthis have announced... that they don't want to fight any more. They just don't want to fight. And we will honour that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated," Trump said.

The agreement with the US follows a recent sharp intensification of air raids on Yemen, including with the participation of UK forces last week. Some of those strikes claimed civilian lives as well as those of Houthi fighters.

The Houthis have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea since Israel began its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the Palestinian militant group's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

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