Israel strikes key Yemen port after Tel Aviv attack

AFP:  Israeli warplanes killed three people in the Huthi-controlled Yemeni port of Hodeida, the Iran-backed rebels said Sunday after the group's deadly drone attack in Tel Aviv.

The strikes on the vital port, which triggered a raging fire and plumes of black smoke, are the first claimed by Israel in the Arabian peninsula's poorest country, about 2,000 kilometres (1,300 miles) away, analysts said.

"The blood of Israeli citizens has a price," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said, adding more operations against the Huthis would follow "if they dare to attack us".

Gallant said the Hodeida strikes were also a warning to other Iran-backed armed groups around the Middle East that have claimed attacks on Israel during the Gaza war.

"The fire that is currently burning in Hodeida, is seen across the Middle East and the significance is clear," he said.

The Israeli strikes killed three people and wounded 87, the rebel-run health ministry said in a statement carried by Huthi media.

The ministry said earlier that most of the wounded had severe burns.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned "anyone who harms us will pay a very heavy price", after Friday's drone attack in Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian.

But Huthi politburo member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti swiftly threatened to "meet escalation with escalation", in a social media post.

Israel's military said Sunday it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen, the latest in a series of Huthi weapons downed off the Red Sea resort town of Eilat in recent months.

Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Saturday accused the Huthis of using Hodeida "as a main supply route for the transfer of Iranian weapons" such as the drone which hit Tel Aviv.