Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv brings further attention on Iran threats – Washington Examiner

The Houthis drone attack in Tel Aviv overnight into Friday is the latest example of the multi-domain aerial threats Israel is facing from Iran and its proxies in the region.

A drone, which the IDF said its initial investigation determined was a Samad-3 and was fired from Yemen, struck a building in Tel Aviv, killing one civilian and injuring about 10 others. The Israelis are investigating why an alert did not go off.

Israel has continually faced drone attacks since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack from many of Iran’s network of proxy forces throughout the region. Lebanese Hezbollah regularly fires drones and missiles into Israel’s northern territory, the Houthis have carried out similar attacks like the one they did on Friday, and Iran itself carried out an unprecedented aerial assault in April featuring about 300 rockets, missiles, and drones, nearly all of which were intercepted.

“The real issue is that Iran has not been held accountable in any meaningful way for its creation and state sponsorship of terrorist proxies who continue to target Israeli civilians,” Alex Plitsas, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council, told the Washington Examiner. “Iran created these proxy ground for plausible deniability and lack of accountability and so far, their strategy is working as the region is on fire with no end in sight.”

President Joe Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to strike back hard against Iran for the unprecedented attack, which the United States and several other allies helped Israel defend against.

“Let me be crystal clear,” Biden told Netanyahu. “If you launch a big attack on Iran, you’re on your own.”

One child was injured in Iran’s unprecedented 300 missile and rocket attack, meaning the drone attack from the Houthis on Friday resulted in more casualties.

“The Houthis have now managed to do what Iran has failed to do directly, inflict casualties on Israeli soil and in the heart of Tel Aviv. Israel will want to strike back in response to this attack though I expect the U.S. to urge caution and to allow the coalition to hit back instead,” Plitsas added.

The Israelis also shot down another drone that was approaching the country from the east. It’s unclear whether the incidents are related.

Since Oct. 7, the Houthis have carried out dozens of rocket and drone attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea. These attacks have had a significant impact on the global commercial shipping industry, which has been forced to avoid the vital maritime route.

The Houthis have targeted more than 60 vessels in their campaign, which have killed a total of four sailors, and they have seized a ship and sank two others. They claim they are doing it in solidarity with Palestinians in light of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, though they have attacked ships regardless of their origins or owners.

“They’ve not made Iran pay a price for the attacks on Israel by Hamas or the Houthis closing the Red Sea, or Hezbollah attacking northern Israel,” former President Donald Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton told the Washington Examiner. “Frankly, they haven’t made the Shia militia in Iraq and Syria pay much of a price, except in Iraq and Syria. Iran itself, its territory, has not paid a price for any of this.”

Despite multiple iterations of U.S. strikes against the Houthis, they maintain their capabilities and desire to continue these attacks. Several former U.S. officials believe the U.S. needs to do more to stop them.

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Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told the Washington Examiner last month, “The bigger issue, ultimately, goes back to Iran. It’s Iran that’s sustaining and supporting these groups. And we believe that certainly Iran is sustaining the Houthis with weapons, but we also believe that Iran is helping them with targeting and other things.”

Iran, independently of the Middle East, is also seeking to target former Trump administration officials whom it deems responsible for the assassination of IRGC leader Qassem Soleimani. The current administration recently picked up chatter about a threat against Trump.

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