Israel hoped for Houthi activity to stop

AlArabiya English

Israel did not focus on Yemen as much because it was hoping for more limited and international responses to curb Houthi activity against them, former Israeli Deputy National Security Advisor Charles David Freilich says.  #Israel #Yemen

Transcript

00:00Do you expect, perhaps, as the focus moves away from Lebanon and Gaza, where there could

00:05be a ceasefire deal, we don't know, but in the days ahead, could there be a shift in

00:10focus now towards Yemen, do you think?

00:12I think there could be something of a shift, but I don't think that what kept Israel from

00:18responding more significantly until now was the ongoing fighting on the other fronts.

00:25It was a hope that maybe more limited responses and international responses might do it.

00:31Unfortunately, the international response has been quite limited, although the U.S.

00:36did launch a limited attack on the Houthis, I believe it was yesterday.

00:43Yemen is very, very far from Israel.

00:45It's not like Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon, where flight time is maybe a couple of minutes,

00:51if that.

00:52This is far away.

00:55It's about as far as the outer limits, let's say, of Israel's capabilities.

01:01Launching an operation such as this is, even if it's not a big attack, it's a big operation

01:05because of the distances, the need for refueling command and control aircraft, intelligence

01:11aircraft, and rescue aircraft.

01:13So it's a big deal.

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