Posted on 03/20/25
| News Source: JPost
Washington, D.C. - March 20, 2025 - The US has asked Israel not to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, a source told the Jerusalem Post.
"Leave it to us" was the US request.
Israeli officials are holding discussions on whether to respond to the recent missiles launched from Yemen, but the assumption is that, at this point, Israel will accept the US request.
Two missiles were sent from Yemen to Israel on Thursday, marking the first time in two months the Houthis had targeted the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas. Both, however, were intercepted by Israel's air defense systems, and did not land in Israeli territory.
Earlier in the day, the US struck Houthi targets in Yemen's port city of Hodeidah.
Sources told Ynet that the US requested that Israel refrain from airstrikes like those carried out in the past by the IAF on Houthi targets in Yemen.
The sources added that while the IAF strikes were carried out successfully in the past, the US believes it has greater capacity to conduct sustained attacks using aircraft stationed on its aircraft carriers.
The United States began striking Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday evening in a message to Iran, a US official told The Jerusalem Post at the time.
An official told Reuters that the air and naval strikes will last "days, possible weeks" and are focusing on the Houthis’ radars, air defenses, and missile and drone systems.
The US informed Israel in advance of the attacks on Yemen.
Earlier in the day, the US struck Houthi targets in Yemen's port city of Hodeidah.
Despite the US's actions, the Houthis said they will not "dial down" their action against Israeli shipping in the Red Sea in response to US military pressure or appeals from the group's allies such as Iran.
Jamal Amer spoke to Reuters late on Monday after the US launched a wave of strikes in areas of Yemen controlled by the Iran-aligned Houthis, who said last week they were resuming attacks on Red Sea shipping to support Palestinians in Gaza.
Two senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Iran had delivered a verbal message to the Houthi envoy in Tehran on Friday to cool tensions and that Iran's foreign minister asked Oman, which has mediated with the Houthis, to convey a similar message to the group when he visited Muscat on Sunday. Both officials asked not to be named.