Strike and target: The Houthis are ready to attack Ben Gurion Airport in Israel again

Israel's main Ben Gurion airport and the port of Haifa will be attacked and remain among the Houthi targets, Khuzam al-Assad, a member of the political bureau of the movement, told Izvestia. Attacks in the Red Sea, as well as rocket and drone launches on Israeli territory, will continue until the end of the war in the Gaza Strip. In addition, a source in Ansar Allah told Izvestia that the ceasefire agreement with Iran announced by the United States could strengthen the truce between Sanaa and Washington in the Red Sea. Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made his first statement after the end of the war with the Jewish state.

Missiles from Yemen may fly to Haifa

Despite the ceasefire agreement reached between Iran and Israel with the mediation of the United States, the Yemeni Houthis from the Ansar Allah movement do not intend to curtail military operations against the Jewish state. A member of the organization's politburo, Khuzam al-Assad, told Izvestia about this, stressing that their attacks on Ben Gurion airport and the port of Haifa would continue until the fighting in the Gaza Strip completely stopped.

According to him, the actions of the Houthis in the Red Sea and in the depths of Israeli territory using rockets and drones have a clear goal — to put pressure on Israel to stop aggression against the Palestinians and lift the blockade from the coastal exclave.

— Our position in support of the people of Gaza, who are being subjected to genocide and starvation blockade by the Israeli occupation with American and Western support, remains unchanged. Our armed forces will continue operations in the Red Sea to disrupt Israeli shipping, as well as strike deep into enemy territory, including Ben Gurion Airport and the port of Haifa. This is necessary in order to force Israel to stop its aggression and lift the blockade. We act based on humanitarian, moral and religious motives," Khuzam al-Assad said in an interview with Izvestia.

Nevertheless, a source in Ansar Allah said that the ceasefire agreement with Iran announced by the United States could strengthen the truce between Sanaa and Washington in the Red Sea, reached through the mediation of Oman. We are talking about an agreement under which the Houthis pledged to stop attacks on American ships in exchange for suspending the US military operation against the group.

There will be attacks: Houthis promise new attacks on Tel Aviv airport

At the same time, the IDF is planning another military operation in Gaza.

The military campaign launched by Washington on March 15 included massive airstrikes on Houthi weapons depots, bases in the mountains and facilities near the port of Hodeidah. The operation ended on May 6. The attacks caused serious damage to the group's logistics and arsenal, but failed to completely eliminate its military capabilities — the Houthis still retain the potential to launch ballistic missiles and drones.

After the end of the operation, US President Donald Trump announced the surrender of the Houthis. However, the group itself does not agree with this assessment. The Omani authorities announced that an agreement had been reached, according to which Ansar Allah undertakes to stop attacks on American ships in exchange for the end of the American campaign.

But attacks on Israel were not included in the deal. Obviously, Ansar Allah believes that the Palestinian issue remains the cornerstone of their policy, and as long as the Gaza Strip remains under blockade and subject to Israeli attacks, the Houthis will not stop their actions.

Israel's truce with Iran

The resumption of attacks on the Jewish state from Yemen occurred back in March, after the collapse of the truce in Gaza. The Houthis fired about 40 ballistic missiles towards Israel and used several dozen drones, but then the intensity of the strikes decreased against the background of a direct military clash between Iran and Israel.

At the same time, on June 13, Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran, accusing Tehran of implementing a military nuclear program. In the evening of the same day, the Islamic Republic retaliated. The Houthis supported Iran and attacked Israel with a Palestine-2 hypersonic missile. On the night of June 22, the United States entered into conflict by attacking three Iranian nuclear facilities. Donald Trump announced that they had been "completely destroyed."

On June 23, Iran retaliated by attacking the largest American airbase in the Middle East, Al-Udeid in Qatar. After that, according to Trump, the parties agreed on a complete cease-fire. Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in his first statement after the end of the conflict, declared Tehran's victory over Israel.

On June 25, the Iranian parliament approved a bill suspending Tehran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the next day that Russia was interested in further cooperation between Iran and the IAEA. According to him, Moscow was alerted by statements from Israel that the truce is only a pause, after which the military operation against the Islamic Republic may continue.

From top to bottom: how the armies of Israel and Iran performed during the conflict

The decisive role was played by the superiority of Tehran's opponents in the air, experts believe.

Meanwhile, American intelligence reported serious damage to Iran's nuclear program. According to the head of the CIA, John Ratcliffe, as a result of the US operation, the Islamic Republic will need several years to restore the lost infrastructure. Earlier, reports appeared in the American media that cast doubt on the effectiveness of the strikes. In particular, CNN, citing a report by the US Department of Defense intelligence Agency, reported that attacks on three Iranian nuclear facilities did not destroy key components of the program, but only delayed its development for several months.

The White House promptly denied the content of the leaks, and the special envoy of the President of the United States, Stephen Witkoff, called the publications in the press treason and demanded an immediate investigation.

Vladimir Sazhin, a senior researcher at the Center for the Study of the Near and Middle East at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that the US strikes have caused serious damage to the nuclear infrastructure of the Islamic Republic. According to him, the underground facility in Fordo was particularly affected — even if the American "bunker" bombs failed to reach the rooms with centrifuges, the concussions from the explosions, according to the expert, could disrupt the precise operation of the equipment.

— Rebuilding Iran's nuclear program will require significant resources, time, and investment. However, in conditions of a crisis economy, it will be extremely difficult for Tehran to quickly return to the previous pace of development of the nuclear complex," the expert told Izvestia.

Additional details about the operation were provided by the famous American journalist Seymour Hersh. Citing informed sources, he said that the attacks on the Fordo facility were not aimed at destroying enriched uranium. The goal was to make stocks of this material unavailable for use. According to Hersh, the entrances and ventilation shafts of the nuclear facility were deliberately destroyed using superheavy bombs. Now, dozens of tons of debris are blocking access to the storage facility, and Tehran may lose the opportunity to use these reserves to create nuclear weapons for years. According to the journalist, the mission turned out to be successful: although the uranium has not been physically destroyed, access to it is now almost impossible, which makes it useless in the foreseeable future.