Yemen’s Houthis say they launched a missile towards Israel

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(Reuters) -Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said they launched a missile towards Israel on Wednesday, which Israel said it intercepted after alarms sounded in several areas.

The armed group continues to launch missiles and drones at Israel in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, even after recent deadly U.S. strikes on Houthi-controlled areas aimed to reduce their capabilities.

The group has controlled the most populous parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, since it ousted the government in 2014.

Israel struck multiple Houthi targets last year in retaliation for the group’s attacks.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the intensification of strikes on the group last month in the biggest U.S. military operation in the Middle East since he took office in January. Washington has vowed to keep attacking the Houthis until they halt attacks on Red Sea shipping.

The Houthis are part of what Iran calls the “Axis of Resistance” – a network of anti-Israel, anti-Western regional militias that also includes the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, whose capabilities Israel significantly reduced in an air and ground campaign last year.

While the United Nations said Iran, which is currently in negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program, enabled the Houthis’ rise, Tehran has repeatedly denied supplying weapons to the group.

(Reporting by Enas Alashray and Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Alexandra Hudson)