Israel launches strikes on power plants, sea port in Yemen

SANA’A/BEIRUT: Israel launched strikes at “Houthi targets” in Yemen on Sunday, marking a fresh exchange in another front of the regional conflict. The Israeli military said in a statement that dozens of aircraft, including fighter jets, attacked power plants and a sea port at the Ras Issa and Hodeidah ports. The strikes caused power outages in most parts of the port city of Hodeidah, residents said. “Over the past year, the Houthis have been operating under the direction and funding of Iran, and in cooperation with Iraqi militias in order to attack the State of Israel, undermine regional stability, and disrupt global freedom of navigation,” the statement said. , Israel said Sunday it killed another senior Hezbollah official in an air strike after dealing the Iran-backed group a seismic blow by assassinating its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Israel announced the killing of Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hezbollah’s central council in a strike Saturday, adding that its air force has continued to hit “dozens” more targets around Lebanon. Israeli strikes have in recent months decimated Hezbollahs senior command structure, with Nasrallahs right-hand man Fuad Shukr, head of the elite Radwan Force Ibrahim Aqil, and others among the dead. The past weeks waves of strikes on Hezbollah strongholds around Lebanon have also plunged the tiny Mediterranean country and the wider region into fear of even more violence to come. military said on Sunday its air force had struck “dozens of Hezbollah terror targets” after carrying out “hundreds” of strikes on Friday and Saturday. It then announced that Qaouq was “struck and eliminated” in a strike on south Beirut on Saturday. Hezbollah has yet to officially announce Qaouq’s death but a source close to the group said he had been killed. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported a string of raids in and around the city of Baalbek in the east. In another development, Israeli military strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 11 Palestinians, health officials in the enclave said on Sunday, as Israeli planes bombarded several northern, central and southern areas. A school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip was among the buildings hit, killing four people and wounding several others, Gaza medics said. The Israeli military claimed it struck Hamas militants operating from a command centre embedded in a compound that had previously served as Um Al-Fahm School. It also said troops discovered and dismantled an underground tunnel route that is approximately 1 kilometre long near residential buildings and civilian spaces in central Gaza, adding that they found several rooms and equipment used by Hamas for prolonged periods.