(Washington, DC) — On Sunday, Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen launched a ballistic missile at Israel’s Ben-Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, which struck an access road right outside of the airport. At least six people were wounded in that attack, likely while running to bomb shelters. Of course, flights were canceled yesterday and now have apparently resumed.
Talk about a major escalation. Israeli government and military officials said right away, ‘This cannot stand; we must strike back’—and strike back they did.
Israeli fighter jets have just completed major air strikes in Yemen. Remember, Yemen is a country that sits over 1,000 miles south of Israel. It’s a long way to go each time Israel hits the Houthis, which they have done approximately six times in the past few months. The amount of distance is also significant. Every time Israel hits Yemen, it is basically a dry run for a strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, which are also over 1,000 miles away from Israel.
Israel struck the Hudaydah Port. That is a crucial spot right on the Red Sea where the Houthis transit Iranian weapons in and out, including perhaps the components to build the same ballistic missiles that the Houthis just fired at Israel’s airport. This is not the first time that Israel has struck the Hudaydah Port.
A concrete factory was struck as well. According to the IDF, this was a very significant target used to build some of the Houthis’ military infrastructure. There were also strikes around Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, which the Houthis rule with an iron fist.
At the same time, the United States also carried out air strikes in Yemen for the 54th consecutive day. It is still too early to know whether the strikes today were conducted in tandem with Israel.
We knew Israel was going to strike back, but they struck back swiftly, and the Houthis are now licking their wounds.
You may be asking, and rightly so, with all the hard-hitting airstrikes conducted by the IDF and the United States under the direction of Pete Hegseth, how do the Houthis still have the capability to fire ballistic missiles at Israel and harass US shipping? The big reason is simple. It’s all about terrain. Yemen is a vast, mountainous country with many places to hide. If the Houthis are wheeling missile launchers out of a cave someplace deep in the barren Yemeni desert, it is tough to thwart.
Israel’s air defenses apparently had several opportunities yesterday as the Houthi ballistic missile traveled toward the Ben-Gurion airport to shoot it down. Unfortunately, it got through Israel’s incredible air defenses, which have a 90% success rate against incoming projectiles.
It’s not brain surgery to understand. Shutting down the Ben-Gurion airport has a major impact on Israel’s economy. Already, the tourism industry in Israel has been almost non-existent since October 7th. If Ben-Gurion is frequently shut down by incoming fire and airlines are forced to cancel flights, that is a disaster for Israel’s economy. Israel knows this; that is why you saw such a swift response today against the Houthis in Yemen.
Now what? Israel struck back, but it is unlikely that the Houthis will stop launching missiles. While no one wants it, it seems that some kind of ground operation in Yemen may be the only way to really stop the Houthis unless you carpet bomb Yemen, and I know Israel and the US are not going to do that because of the civilian casualties. There are no good options. There’s no appetite, I think, for a ground operation in Yemen unless it is carried out by a special forces operation.
The United States and Israel are likely going to work more in tandem going forward against the shared Houthi threat. Will Israel and the US defense establishments put their heads together and come up with a more decisive response where we could see a cessation of this rocket and drone fire? We will see.
The Head Of The Snake
The big question of what comes next surrounds Iran. Tehran is the head of the snake. The Houthis are an integral part of Iran’s “ring of fire,” which has largely been smashed since September. Hezbollah has been dismantled, Hamas is in its death throes, and the Assad regime is out the window.
Iran is the puppet master pulling all the strings. Why don’t we go to the source? This is often urged by Israeli government and military officials.
Along those lines, President Trump, in an interview on Sunday, talked about Iran’s nuclear program, answering a question that has been front of mind to many. During his first term, President Trump pulled out of the disastrous Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) cobbled together by the Obama administration. With new negotiations, many have been discussing the possibility of another bad nuclear deal being constructed. It was music to the ears of many of us when President Trump, on Sunday, stated that only “total dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear program will do.
That is what Prime Minister Netanyahu has been saying all along, calling it “the Libya model”—referring to what Libya did in 2003, dismantling their entire nuclear program.
No more enriching uranium. Iran must allow international inspectors to come in unfettered and inspect the sites on a regular basis. They must give up their ballistic missile program. And, oh yeah, they must end their support of terror groups, like the Houthis, in the region. That is an Iran nuclear deal that I think would be very acceptable, and yet, I don’t think Iran is going to agree.
What we are left with seems inevitable: a military operation—surgical strikes against Iran’s military nuclear sites. A nuclear Iran is an existential threat, not only to Israel but to America and the free world—and by the way, Iran has never been more vulnerable to such a strike than it is right now.
Israel has been going on the offensive anytime a threat rears its head from Iran’s terror proxies, and working to do so proactively rather than reactively. I think the same will apply to Iran’s nuclear weapons program as well. In these tumultuous Bible times, with chess pieces moving on the board, keep it all in prayer.
