Update: Israel Readying Massive Response to Houthis and Iran After Airport Missile Attack

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that Israel will respond to the Houthis after the Yemeni rebel group launched a missile at the country’s main airport on Sunday.

The Houthis, a rebel group in Yemen that has disrupted commercial shipping routes and has the backing of Iran, launched a hypersonic ballistic missile at Ben-Gurion International Airport earlier Sunday, an attack that disrupted flights and caused panic among passengers.

The missile landed in the airport’s vicinity after the Israel Defense Forces failed to shoot it down, leaving a plume of smoke.

In a post on X, Netanyahu signaled that Israel is readying a response to not only the Houthis, a group they have targeted before, but also their “Iranian terror masters.”

“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran. Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters,” he said.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also warned that the counterattack would be “sevenfold.”

Iran, meanwhile, has said it would respond to any attack from Israel “with might,” suggesting there would be no limits to a potential response and would include attacking U.S. military bases in Israel.

“We will attack their interests and their bases, and we will not be reluctant and will not see any limits in this regard,” Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said. “We are not enemies of our neighboring countries, and they are our brothers, but American bases on their soil will be our targets.”

Israel’s security cabinet met on Sunday afternoon to discuss the attack, which marks a significant escalation of tensions between the rebel group and Israel and is now threatening to draw in Iran.

It also comes amid the U.S.’s own military campaign against the Houthis, who they have been targeting since mid-March. The U.S. and Iran have also been holding talks about the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear program.

The recent round of negotiations, which were supposed to take place in Rome earlier this weekend, was postponed after U.S. threats of military action against Iran for its support of the Houthis.