Israel strikes Hodeidah port

ISRAELI fighter jets struck the Houthi-held port of Hodeidah on Tuesday in response to the Yemeni faction’s continued drone and missiles launches at Israel.

The strikes were preceded with a warning from Israel Defence Force Arabic spokesperson Avichai Adraee on social media platform X that a strike on Hodeidah was imminent, urging “all those present” at the port and any ships berthed there “to evacuate the area immediately”.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence Automatic Identification System data shows two bulkers and a general cargoship were anchored at the beleaguered port in the hours around the time the warning was issued. The last vessel of the three to broadcast AIS data sent its last message at 1358 hrs UTC — about 1.5 hours after Adraee’s post.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations published an advisory on X at 1353 hrs warning of a “high threat of collateral damage to vessels visiting ports in the southern Red Sea”.

“All vessels are advised to exercise extreme caution in the vicinity of ports that have been subjected to previous strikes, and should consider carefully whether the risk of ongoing navigation/operations in those areas remains judicious,” UKMTO said.

The IDF spokesperson confirmed the attack with another post on X at 1429 hrs.

“The terrorist Houthi regime uses the Hodeidah port to transfer combat means affiliated with the Iranian regime, which it uses to carry out terrorist plots against the state of Israel and its allies,” according to a translation of Adraee’s post.

Houthi-affiliated Yemen News Agency said Israel launched “12 raids” on Hodeidah port but said the Houthis’ air defences “caused confusion among enemy aircraft, forcing some of their formations to leave airspace before carrying out their aggression”.

Previous Israeli air strikes against the port in May and July caused heavy damage, with satellite imagery showing gaping craters at its docks. Traffic into the port has subsequently slowed, vessel-tracking data showed.