I am in the US Capitol in Washington, DC, as part of an Israel advocacy summit. It is an incredible three-day event where hundreds of Christian and Jewish leaders are lobbying members of Congress, in both the House and Senate, to stand with Israel in the face of not only growing threats from Iran, the Houthis, Hamas, and Hezbollah, but also rising anti-semitism right here in America.
As I stood in the Capitol building, the news broke that Israeli fighter jets completely dismantled Yemen’s main airport.
Sanaa International Airport, at least for the foreseeable future, is no longer able to be used after massive Israeli air strikes crippled a terminal and everything on the ground, including planes.
It came on the heels of yesterday’s major attacks by the Israeli Air Force, which struck Hudaydah Port, the main port on the Red Sea coast in Yemen.
If you’re wondering why Israel would shut down the airport and Hudaydah Port—surprise, surprise—both were being used as transit points for smuggling in Iranian-supplied weapons. The weapons being transferred included ballistic missile components, the very same weapons the Houthis used to spark the retaliatory Israeli strikes by targeting the Ben-Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
I have traveled the access road many times that the Houthis struck, coming in and out of Ben-Gurion airport in my travels to Israel. For the Jewish State, this was rightfully considered to be a “red line” that was crossed.
Israel responded with overwhelming force on Monday, striking the port as well as a concrete factory, which was used by the Houthis to build military infrastructure, tunnels, etc. Israel was not finished responding. Today, they not only completely crippled Yemen’s airport, they also struck two power plants.
A message has been sent clearly to the Houthis. Unfortunately, no matter how many times they have been struck over the past several months, the Houthis do not seem to get the memo.
The Houthis’ main slogan reads, “Allah is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse be upon the Jews, Victory to Islam.” This is a genocidal, suicidal death cult, and it appears that they are determined to go out in a “blaze of glory” (in their view), continually firing missiles at Israel. They are already threatening new attacks against Ben-Gurion as well as Haifa, which sits north of the airport on the Mediterranean coast. It doesn’t seem like the Houthis are going to let up—and they’re signing their own death warrant as they do this.
The United States continues to carry out major airstrikes, pounding Yemen for over 50 days straight. President Trump said today that if the Houthis were to stop attacking US shipping in the Red Sea, then they would stop attacking them. I think Israel’s philosophy has pretty much been the same regarding the Houthis. Yet, the terrorist group doesn’t seem to want to play ball.
Where is this all heading? If the Houthis are being absolutely shellacked and bombarded on a daily basis by two of the greatest air forces in the world, the United States and Israel, and they’re still not ceasing their drone and ballistic missile attacks… what can be done?
This all leads back to the head of the snake, the Iranian regime.
I would recommend the Iranian regime cease and desist its sponsorship of the Houthis in Yemen because I think we are at the point—and most Israeli leaders are certainly leaning this way—that the head of the snake needs to be sent a message. The Houthis are not conducting any of these actions without Iranian support, training, and financing.
The Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the entire Iranian ring of fire of militias don’t have any bandwidth without Iran supplying it to them. A few weeks ago, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) advisers evacuated Yemen. Clearly, they see the writing on the wall. And yet, the Houthis are getting their marching orders, weapons, and funding from Iran to continue attacking Israel and US shipping. This was also the case with Hamas and Hezbollah.
Don’t you eventually have to go to the head of the snake? Some have called it the head of “the octopus.” The Iranian regime is the root of all of this. To ultimately solve the terror problem in the region, you have got to dig out the root—and that is most certainly Iran.
Israel, I think, is prepared to do that. The complication, potentially, is the United States. The Trump administration is currently engaged in diplomatic talks with Iran over its nuclear weapons program. If Israel strikes Iran, does that throw a monkey wrench into those talks? We don’t know.
I think we are at zero hour, where Israel is going to have to send Iran a message directly. If you want to stop the Houthis, that’s one way to do it.
Or, there is another very unappealing option.
Yemen has a vast, mountainous, rugged terrain. The Houthis can roll a missile launcher out of a cave, fire, and roll it back inside. That is tough to stop. The vast hiding places in Yemen are similar to what was seen in Afghanistan. After 9/11, it was necessary for US special forces to go on the ground to help root out the Taliban and al-Qaeda in those mountainous regions near the Pakistan border. That’s an unappealing option for Israel and the United States, but a limited special forces operation may become the best option. It is certainly much more appealing to send a message through air strikes and not get bogged down in the barren wasteland of Yemen. Keep in mind that the United States and Israel would have no need even to consider that option if Iran calls off the wolves and gets the message.
President Trump said on Sunday that only the “total dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear weapons program is acceptable in these talks. This is the year of reckoning for Iran’s nuclear program. By the time 2025 is out, we will know which way this is going.
Fasten your seat belts and keep it all in prayer.
