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Israel Hit Yemen Target Hours after Discovering an Imminent Houthi Meeting
(Wall Street Journal) Dov Lieber - Last week, two Israeli intelligence officers picked up signals that ministers in the Houthi government were planning to meet in the Yemeni capital of San'a the next day. Several hours later, Israeli jets were on their way to strike a conference hall where the men were gathering to watch a speech by their leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi. The strike killed at least 12 government officials, including the prime minister and foreign minister, and severely injured others. Until Thursday's strike, Israeli retaliation for Houthi attacks had largely been limited to infrastructure like ports and power stations. Israeli security officials told the Wall Street Journal that the operation was the result of efforts by Israel to improve their knowledge of the Houthis. The strike also reflects an aggressive Israeli security posture in which Israel wants its adversaries to know it will hit back hard against any potential threat. "Israel has abandoned the old formulas of proportional retaliation," said Oded Ailam, a former Mossad official and currently a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.