After about nine months of fierce fighting, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict finally spilled over again, this time, Israel directly bombed Yemen, a country that could not fight with itself. According to Israel's official report on July 20, the Israeli army dispatched more than 10 fighter planes, including F-35I and F-15I, to bomb the port of Hodeidah in Yemen on a long distance, and according to reports, the Israeli military aircraft flew a distance of about 2,000 kilometers in one way.
(Israeli F-15I fighter carrying Jadam bomb)
Since the Hamas military operation against Israel launched by Hamas, Gaza's Islamist resistance movement, in October last year, Yemen's Houthis were the first to come forward and respond positively, and the Houthis did not just pay lip service to support, they actually launched missiles and drones to support the Palestinian people's anti-Israel struggle with air strikes. Not only that, but the Houthis have also launched "ship raids" in the Red Sea, specifically against passing merchant ships bound for Israel, as well as those of Western countries that support Israel. For a time, from the Red Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean, the actions of the Houthis attracted the attention of the whole world.
(Houthi spokesperson Yahya · Sarea)
According to statistics, from October last year to the present, the Houthis have fired a total of about 200 missiles of various types and suicide drones into Israel, and the performance of these weapons is relatively backward, so most of them have been successfully intercepted by Israeli air defense forces, and only a few have broken through the Israeli air defense network, but they have basically fallen in the wilderness. After all, Israel is about 1,800 kilometers away from Yemen in a straight line, and it is difficult for Houthi missiles and drones to maintain high hitting accuracy at such a distance, so although the Houthis actively launched missiles and drones, they basically did not cause any decent damage to Israel.
(Houthi drones actually crossed the Suez Canal and successfully attacked Tel Aviv from the direction of the Eastern Mediterranean, causing Israel casualties)
But everything changed significantly on July 19: according to reports, on July 19, a Houthi drone spent nearly 10 hours, flew 2,000 kilometers, flew over the Suez Canal in Egypt, entered the Eastern Mediterranean, and then successfully bombed the streets of Ben · Yehuda in Tel Aviv, the capital of the Israel, from west to east, killing one person and injuring 10 others, and more importantly, near the Israel United States embassy in Tel Aviv, It was clear that Houthi's goal was to go to the United States Embassy, but because the navigation was really not good, it was missed.
(The oil storage facility in the port of Hodeidah was hit by Israeli air strikes)
But the move proves that the Houthi suicide drones have been upgraded to fly 2,000 kilometers independently, and can automatically steer and target targets according to the navigation system. Although the navigation accuracy of Houthi's hand-rubbed drones is still quite "touching", it is not difficult to see from its activities that Houthi drone technology has reached a fairly high level, and if it can be supported by components of external navigation systems in the future, it may not be able to accurately hit the United States Embassy in Israel next time.
It was precisely because of this precision strike that it actually caused Israel casualties, and the Israel Air Force immediately sent more than a dozen fighter planes carrying bombs across the Red Sea for 2,000 kilometers to bomb the port of Hodeidah in Yemen the next day, July 20. The reason for the bombing of Hodeidah port is because Israel believes that Hodeidah port is an important sea passage for the Houthis to receive Iran aid, and at the same time, a large amount of oil and other strategic materials are hoarded here by the Houthis, and Israel's bombing of Hodeidah port is obviously to "knock the mountain and shock the tiger" and try to give the Houthis a warning.
From a tactical point of view, the Israeli army's attack was quite perfect, but this obviously has several necessary conditions: first, the Israeli army itself has carried out the bombing of Gaza and southern Lebanon for a long time, so the air force has rich combat experience and does not need to mobilize for battle; Second, Yemen is indeed too poor, the Houthis do not have a decent air force at all, and even air defense radars are scarce, so it is difficult to respond effectively to Israeli bombing. Combining these two points, there is actually not much difference between the Israeli army's bombing of targets in Yemen and its usual target training.
Strategically, however, Israel's approach has been a complete failure. This is because: Israel and Yemen are separated by about 2,000 kilometers, and even the Israeli F-15I fighter jets have a maximum combat radius of only 1,500 kilometers, so to bomb Yemen 2,000 kilometers away, it is necessary to carry out at least 2 air refueling. This time, the Israeli army also admitted that its air raids were coordinated by United Kingdom and United States air tankers, and it was with the support of Britain and the United States that Israel had the ability to bomb Yemen. Without the assistance of Britain and the United States, Israel can only be "beyond the reach of the whip" for Yemen, which is 2,000 kilometers away, which obviously exposes the shortcomings of the Israel army, and at the same time further provokes the contradictions between the Arab nation in the Middle East and Britain, the United States, Israel and other countries, so it can be said that the gains outweigh the losses.
Second, Israel's air strikes on Yemen immediately provoked the anger of the entire "arc of resistance", and retaliatory attacks against Israel began. According to reports, on the same day as the Yemen of the Israel air strikes, the Lebanon Allah Party and the Hamas Kasan Brigade Division in exile in Lebanon jointly carried out a massive rocket bombardment of the northern part of Israel, and the rockets fired by the Kasam Brigade Branch allegedly succeeded in destroying the headquarters of the 300th "Shumila" Brigade of the Israel National Defense Forces. The Islamic Resistance Movement in Iraq also launched an attack on military installations in the port of Haifa, Israel, on the 20th. In addition, both Iran and Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip have issued statements supporting the Houthis in their fight against Israel.
(Now even the aircraft carriers of the United States Navy do not dare to enter the Red Sea, but operate in the Arabian Sea, and Israel is left on its own)
On the whole, Israel is getting farther and farther away from our previous impression of the "little bully of the Middle East", and today's Israel feels like an enemy on all sides, but it can't be fought on all sides. Now the Israeli army has even extended the front to Yemen, 2,000 kilometers away, but the problem is that Israel needs to send fighter jets at least 4,000 kilometers round trip, and at least two air refueling trips, which alone consumes hundreds of thousands of dollars of aviation fuel. And the Houthi 20,000 dollar hand-rubbed drone can also fly 2,000 kilometers, turn around, and bomb Israel itself! In this war of attrition, United States cannot hold on to running away, how can Israel win?