Israel said it had shot down a drone that was approaching from the east on Wednesday, as Houthi officials in Yemen vowed to continue attacking the country a day after President Trump said the United States would stop bombing the Iran-backed group.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the drone was intercepted by the air force and sirens blared as it approached. It was not immediately clear who launched the drone. But the Houthi militia group reiterated that it would continue to attack Israel, both to avenge attacks in Yemen and because of the war in Gaza.
“We cannot accept Yemen being targeted and violated without a response,” Mohamed Abdelsalam, a spokesman for the group, told Al Jazeera, the Qatari broadcaster, echoing comments by a senior Houthi politician on Tuesday. “We will continue to respond to the Israeli entity by all available means.”
Israeli fighter jets have bombed several sites across Yemen this week, killing at least seven people, according to casualty reports, and disabling the country’s main international airport. Khaled Al-Shaif, the director of the airport in Sana, Yemen’s capital, said the attack had caused $500 million worth of damage, destroyed three planes and forced flights to be suspended indefinitely.
Israel said the airport attack was in response to a Houthi ballistic missile strike near Ben-Gurion International Airport, outside Tel Aviv, on Sunday. Multiple airlines have temporarily suspended flights in response to the attack, which wounded at least six people.
For more than a year, the Houthis, who rule much of northwestern Yemen, have fired rockets and drones at Israel and ships in the Red Sea in what they call a solidarity campaign with Palestinians in Gaza.
The United States has lent its military support to Israel in the conflict, launching missile strikes against Yemen and deploying its aircraft carriers to protect shipping. The efforts began under the Biden administration but were stepped up in mid-March, when Mr. Trump sharply escalated attacks and vowed that the Houthis would be “annihilated.” Over the last seven weeks, the campaign has cost well over $1 billion.
But Mr. Trump abruptly reversed course on Tuesday, surprising both Israel and the Pentagon, by announcing that a truce between the United States and the Houthis had been negotiated by Oman.
“They just don’t want to fight,” Mr. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during an unrelated meeting with Canada’s prime minister. “And we will honor that and we will stop the bombings. They have capitulated, but more importantly, we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.”
But Mr. Abdelsalam said the Houthis would continue attacking Israeli ships until Israel lifts a blockade against Gaza that has prevented humanitarian aid from reaching its two million residents.
Mr. Abdelsalam said the “preliminary” truce with the United States would not affect Houthi support for Gaza. “We will evaluate any future U.S. support for Israel and determine our stance accordingly,” he said.
Ismaeel Naar contributed reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
