Ali Dhafar argues that Yemen’s recent strategic military operations against US and Israeli assets signal its growing capabilities.

The US military fired multiple strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the latest escalation against the Iran-backed terror group plaguing the Red Sea.

Yemen's Houthi spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said the country would continue to defend itself after several U.S. strikes targeted facilities in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday.

The U.S. has been targeting Houthi facilities in Yemen and has long carried out military activities in the country.

The more than a dozen strikes in Sana'a and other parts of Yemen are the first major ones since the Navy shot down its own F/A-18F.

Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv Monday after reports of a missile launch from Yemen, sending residents running for shelter.

Israel’s military says it intercepted a missile fired toward the country by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The attack set off sirens late Monday in central areas of Israel, including Tel Aviv.

The Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen on Tuesday claimed to have attacked the international airport in Tel Aviv as well as targets in Jerusalem. Houthi military spokesman Yehya Saree said in a televised statement that Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and an electricity plant in the Jerusalem area had been attacked with ballistic missiles.

"On Dec. 30 and 31, U.S. Navy ships and aircraft targeted a Houthi command and control facility and advanced conventional weapon (ACW) production and storage facilities that included missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV)," the U.S. military's Central Command said in a post on X.

The targets struck by U.S. forces had been used to attack American warships and commercial vessels, officials said.

Houthi militants have used the targeted facilities to conduct attacks on U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, according to Central Command.