Israeli ex-general warns Yemen’s Houthis could target port of Eilat

A former Israeli general warned on Saturday that the Red Sea port of Eilat in southern Israel could be targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Amos Yadlin, who previously headed the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate, said that the Iran-allied Houthis, who control most of northern Yemen, had shown that they had high missile and drone capabilities.

His comments came after the Houthis used ballistic missiles and drones to attack the UAE capital Abu Dhabi earlier this week, killing three people.

The attack was followed by Saudi-led coalition reprisals on Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. At least 80 people were killed when a prison in the Houthi stronghold of Saada was bombed on Friday.

In an article for the website of Israel’s Channel 12, Yadlin said that the Houthi attack showed that Iran-allied groups could carry out major attacks against Israel.

He said that even though Israel had more advanced intelligence capabilities and defence systems than the UAE, no one could guarantee that these would stop Israel being targeted.

On the other hand, Yadlin called on Israel to abandon a long-standing policy of withholding military technology from Arab states and provide advanced missile defence systems to the UAE and possibly Saudi Arabia, saying this would improve relations.

The UAE and Israel signed an agreement normalising relations in 2020 but Saudi Arabia has so far refused to sign a similar agreement.

In 2019, following a Bahrain conference on Middle East peace boycotted by Palestinians, the Houthis published a plan to “liberate Palestine”.