Israeli strikes hit Yemen’s Sanaa for second time in a week

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ADEN (Reuters) -Israel struck at Houthi militants in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Thursday, the Israeli military said, in the second such assault on the city in less than a week.

Residents told Reuters the attacks struck an area near the presidential complex and a building in southern Sanaa.

Yemeni military sources said the presidential complex housed an operations room and a missile storage facility used by the Iran-aligned militants.

An Israeli military statement referred to a single attack.

Israeli security sources said it had targeted various locations where a large number of senior Houthi officials had gathered to watch a televised speech recorded by leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi.

But a source from the Houthi Ministry of Defense denied reports of leaders being targeted in Sanaa, the Houthi-run news agency reported.

“Whoever raises a hand against Israel – his hand will be cut off,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Thursday.

On Sunday, Israel said it had hit the city in retaliation for Houthi missiles fired towards Israel.

The strikes are the latest in more than a year of attacks and counterstrikes between Israel and Houthi militants in Yemen, part of a spillover from the war in Gaza.

Nasruldeen Amer, a senior Houthi official, said on Thursday the Houthis, who control much of Yemen’s population, would continue to act in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The Iran-aligned Houthis have attacked vessels in the Red Sea in what they describe as acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

They have also fired missiles towards Israel, most of which have been intercepted. Israel has responded with strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, including the vital Hodeidah port.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Aden, Yomna Ehab and Enas Alashray in Cairo, and Howard Goller in New York; Writing by Yomna Ehab; Editing by Alex Richardson and Andrew Heavens)