Attacks have consequences: Israel responds to Yemen

Hodeida, Yemen, a port operated by Houthi terrorists is burning. Israel
bombed a large weapons depot there.

The strike was retaliation for a drone strike on Tel Aviv by the Houthis, who were likely aiming for the US Consulate located adjacent to the beach. The drone missed by about 1,000 feet and instead hit an apartment building, killing a 50-year-old man and wounding eight others.

It was not by any means the first Houthi strike on US assets in the region. It was, however, a demonstration of growing brazenness on the part of the terrorists.

The first lesson is that an absence of deterrence – a failure to strike the fear of retaliation into your enemies – leads, inevitably, to escalation on their part. One of President Joe Biden’s first acts in office was to remove the terror designation from the Houthis, despite their relentless attacks on Saudi oil facilities and civilian infrastructure.

With no fear of US or Saudi attack, they have escalated over the past three and a half years. With longer-range drones and missiles, the Houthis have made the Red Sea almost impassable and reduced traffic in the Suez Canal by 66 percent since 2023.

In January, two American servicemen lost their lives in the Red Sea in a raid to confiscate Iranian weapons enroute to the Houthis. Instead of punishment, or exacting a price, or instilling fear, the US and allied ships in the Red Sea mostly tried to shoot down the drones and missiles. In only a few instances has the US tried to knock out launch sites and, just last week, Houthi radars.

In other words, there was no reason for the Houthis to stop.

It isn’t as if the US military didn’t understand the attacks and the stakes. General Erik Kurilla, the USCENTCOM commander and a regular visitor to