A few minutes before 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 28, a massive explosion shook the capital Sanaa. Somewhere in the IDF, a slight sigh of relief was heard following the execution, but considerable time would pass before tension levels in the room subsided somewhat, and days would pass before all operation results became clear. A prolonged effort by thousands of soldiers and officers, including in the air and naval forces and the Military Intelligence Directorate, undoubtedly reached a milestone – Operation Drop of Luck, which will be remembered as the deadliest strike the Houthi leadership has ever sustained.
"When there are opportunities, you need to know how to exploit them," states Lt. Col. T., head of the strike branch in the Israeli Air Force, who is also responsible for planning and managing the campaign in the Yemeni arena. "There was an opportunity here that served a greater purpose. I don't think there has been such an operation in the past two years, or anything similar to the scale we've had in other rounds, in other countries. This is an event that destabilizes the enemy, regardless of the circumstances. Will it disrupt the missile that will arrive? Probably not. But it does shake the system. This was a demonstration of the State of Israel's power."
"Going out to strike in Yemen means considering the time dimension, the complexity of getting there, and the number of unknown scenarios you have on the way," explains the senior officer. "Strong cooperation between intelligence and the air force is required for this to be conducted properly at all. In the end, at the tip, there are crews of pilots dropping bombs with a huge envelope behind them, supporting, preparing. These are refuelers, these are rescue capabilities, this is intelligence. It's an operation to refuel several aircraft multiple times en route, ensuring they arrive with sufficient fuel to execute the mission. It's between five and six hours."
"Behind every operation and strike sit the sharpest minds from the intelligence community working day and night to enable crazy operations and strikes in Yemen. This is the fruit of close and full cooperation between the entire intelligence community," emphasizes Lt. L., an officer in the air force intelligence community who researches aerial threats. "We sat and waited anxiously until the moment of impact, and waited until the pilots exited the threat line. There, a stone fell from our hearts, and we knew we had succeeded in our mission."
Behind the strikes in Yemen stands, among others, the "Deep Operations" division unit, which was established around January and is being revealed here for the first time. Master Sgt. M., who served in the unit as a deep operations division officer, says the understanding was that there was an operational need to deal specifically with the Yemeni arena. This involves a small number of people who began coordinating the efforts of the Air Force, Navy, intelligence, and other entities. The goal is to organize and plan all strikes in the arena. This, of course, includes planning the activation of special means that will neutralize air defense threats or extreme scenarios of a malfunction in one of the aircraft.
"When a demand comes from the military or political level to carry out an operation, whether in response to attacks against us or any other Israeli desire, it's received by us, and from that moment, we work in the most precise way to find the target that will serve our interests. We examine each case individually, and the risk level varies accordingly. Intelligence always works, and the moment a demand arrives, we find the relevant target," explains Master Sgt. M.
According to operations officer M., "There are always thoughts that something could fail, even in the simplest strikes, which were supposedly the least dangerous. In the end, strikes in Yemen are the furthest operations Israel has carried out to date, even more than Iran in some cases. There is always a fear of failure, whether it involves an aircraft malfunction or an intelligence failure. Everything can happen, and everything is put on the table, and courses of action are prepared. It's very exhausting and very important work; we examine each case and see how it can be solved in advance."
This week, a mass funeral was held in Sanaa, where the Houthis acknowledged the unprecedented blow they sustained. In the hall where they gathered to watch the speech of leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, their Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi was killed along with at least nine cabinet members: Foreign Minister Jamal Ammar, Communications Minister Hashem Sharaf, Justice Minister Mujahid Ahmed Ali, Economy Minister Moein al-Mahaqri, Agriculture Minister Radwan Ali al-Rabaei, Electricity Minister Ali Saif Hassan, Culture and Tourism Minister Qasem Hussein al-Yafei, Labor Minister Samir Bajalah, and Sports Minister Ahmed al-Mawlad.
Besides these senior officials, Prime Minister's Office chief Mohammed al-Kabsi and government secretary Zahid al-Amdi were also killed. In practice, and contrary to all wartime logic, dozens of terror regime senior officials gathered in one place, including the two most senior military commanders – Chief of Staff Mohammed Abdul-Karim al-Ghamari and Defense Minister Mohammed al-Atifi. Their presence tipped the political level's threshold regarding the operation. According to reports in Yemen, both were wounded in the strike and hospitalized in serious condition. As of this writing, the IDF is awaiting completion of the operation's results assessment. However, Houthi opponents in Yemen already report about 20 dead and dozens wounded.
"According to intelligence indications, we understood it was possible to exploit a meeting that convened and strike the Houthi command chain and government," says Lt. L., "In very short timeframes, together with intelligence community partners, including the Research Division and 8200 and many partners, and with very good guidance, we managed to execute the operation. Our work was to guide the aircraft most safely and least dangerously to maintain a clear path from surface-to-air missile batteries."
She clarifies: "It's a challenging mission because the route is very long. The main threat is the Houthis' air defense missiles. These are advanced surface-to-air missile batteries with Iranian funding, which we know are deployed throughout Yemen. They managed to shoot down quite a few American drones during the war. The threat is significant, the Houthis are ready, and we had to enable the best path, and ultimately ensure the pilots feel safe."
It's no wonder the air force treats the threat with due seriousness. Since the US began striking in Yemen, the Houthis have claimed to have shot down 16 advanced MQ-9 drones. The cost of each such aircraft reaches tens of millions of dollars, and cumulatively, this represents financial damage of hundreds of millions of dollars. It's quite possible this was one of the reasons the Trump administration already preferred a ceasefire on paper. Obviously, when it comes to manned aircraft, the risk is incomparably greater.
The Houthis belong to a Shia faction named after the fifth Imam Zayd ibn Ali. The Zaidi tribes migrated from the Hijaz to the mountains of northern Yemen hundreds of years ago and established several kingdoms there, the last of which essentially collapsed in the 20th century. From the chaos that arose in the 1990s, the al-Houthi family dynasty emerged from the tribe bearing the same name. Family members allied with Iran and derived from it an anti-Western, anti-Zionist, and antisemitic ideology, though Jew-hatred was not rare in the Middle East.
Now the IDF is engaged in studying the movement to identify vulnerabilities and strike accordingly. They acknowledge that in the past, the same level of attention wasn't dedicated to the threat developing from the east. One of the points identified was the custom of gathering with friends and chewing qat. In these circumstances, the first assassination attempt on the Houthi chief of staff was carried out. Alongside this, no one underestimates their stubbornness, survivability, and extremism. For more than a decade, they have imposed their terror on Yemen, which has become a desolate and famine-stricken land, despite the regional coalition formed against them. Even Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ultimately settled for a fragile ceasefire.
And now, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik announced the terror organization will continue launching drones and ballistic missiles at Israel, and even increase them despite the severe blow. Sources in Sanaa threatened in conversations with Al-Akhbar newspaper that they will try to strike the headquarters, ministers' offices, and even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence. They didn't settle for words, and this week fired a ballistic missile at a ship in the northern sea, which Israeli businessman Idan Ofer indirectly and partially owns. At the same time, missiles fired toward Israel fell on their way here, and several drones were intercepted.
Against this backdrop, someone was slightly ahead of his time, or more accurately, expressed wishful thinking. "This militia has become exposed, disintegrating, and stands before its inevitable end," declared this week Yemen's legitimate government's Information Minister in Aden, Muammar al-Eryani.
"The Houthis have quite a few enemies who don't like them," reminds Lt. Col. T. and clarifies, "We're not the only ones. We'd like to reach a situation where the surrounding countries enter and take responsibility. It's a long road that needs to be traveled, including diplomatic or military steps that will take time, but there are quite a few opportunities."
This point is important because the Iranian axis increasingly struggles to assist the Houthis, let alone Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose advisors helped them considerably in Yemen's civil war. "It's not that the strike on Iran will affect the launches we're experiencing," explains the senior officer, "but in the end, when you finish Operation Rising Lion, and you've struck Hezbollah and you're in a different situation in Syria, when the Houthis need their backing, and their head was the Iranian head managing the entire event – you see it hurts them logistically. It hurts their connections, interfaces, and puts you in a different place."
Lt. L. adds: "In Operation Rising Lion, not only was Iran hit, but all pro-Iranian axis companies. The damage reverberates slowly – whether in funding, which is already difficult to bring in due to our strikes, or in the Iranians' attention distribution to all Middle East arenas."
However, she warns: "The Houthis are very creative and find ways to manage and be independent. They believe in themselves, in their capabilities, including in self-production worlds. Regarding every ballistic missile they launch, they explicitly note it is self-produced. Even when they shot down American drones, they noted the surface-to-air missiles were self-produced."
After all, according to her, the Houthis have almost unstoppable motivation: "Death to America and death to Israel are engraved on their flag. It's hatred at a very high level. In the end, it's a terror organization with high motivation to do what's possible to harm the State of Israel. So they learn and research, and each time change slightly, and we learn to correspond with this reality and find the most effective way to respond."
Nevertheless, the IDF already identifies damage to the Houthis' terror regime beyond the assassinations. "We set several goals or purposes. The first is to strike them and create an aerial and naval blockade, thereby causing economic damage, disrupting their routine activity, and inflicting political damage. To make their daily life harder," says senior officer T. "This thing works," he adds, "if you look at the past year, not for nothing, most of what we struck were targets like ports, airports, and national infrastructure. These are things that hurt the Houthis' political component more."
Do you see it destabilizing them?
"Yes. Again, we need to be precise. It won't make them stop launching toward the State of Israel, but regarding the question, does this destabilize them? Does this disrupt their routine and daily life? Does it create things for us? The answer is yes."
"It has effectiveness, and beyond the beautiful pictures, the other side is hurt. Objectively, since the airport strikes, there are almost no flights entering the Houthi side in Yemen. There was one UN flight that arrived there. This hurts their trade, international connections. Previously, flights arrived from Jordan and Saudi Arabia; however, these routes are currently suspended. Imagine Ben Gurion Airport closed here for half a year. It would disrupt daily conduct. So this affects them. Same with the port. The number of ships arriving, the weapons. About three weeks ago, it was published that they caught a weapons ship; these are ripples of actions you take."
This refers to an operation conducted by authorities in Aden on August 10. The ship "Al-Sharwa," which tried to smuggle strategic weapons to the terror organization, was caught by Yemen's legitimate government forces. The shipment was disguised as factory equipment and included generators, transformers, and pumps. Upon inspection, it was discovered that missile and drone parts were hidden in this equipment. Moreover, from crew testimonies of those arrested, it emerges that the Houthis would send smugglers on flights from Sanaa to Amman in Jordan. From there, they would fly to Lebanon and then to Iran. From the Islamic Republic's ports, vessels would depart, transferring fuel and combat equipment to the pro-Iranian organization.
In any case, the IDF clarifies this isn't the end. Lt. L. explains that the Houthis have honored previous ceasefires, and it's very possible they would act similarly in the event of another agreement in Gaza. However, in her view, one cannot remain complacent, and the IDF remains ready for any scenario.
According to Lt. Col. T., "In the future campaign, the intention is to reach a situation where we increase operations and the pain threshold. We're mapping the Houthis' pain points and trying to learn. Learning from the Americans who were there, from Saudi Arabia's war (which led a coalition against the Houthis in the previous decade). As time passes, we continue to develop better capabilities and intelligence. This way, you can create an operation that will cause significant military damage. The second thing we're trying to do is reduce fire on the State of Israel to protect civilians."
What can the State of Israel do differently against the Houthis that the Saudi coalition or Americans didn't do in the previous decade? After all, there's leadership hiding deep in the mountains.
"Allow me, with your permission, to be Zionist. I really believe in the State of Israel's power. I think there are things and barriers we've broken through, and I say this modestly – the honor of the US and Saudi Arabia is preserved – but there are things in Israeli-Jewish DNA, in Israeli-Jewish intelligence, in the air force and military, that are ours. And meanwhile, we've proven it in several more arenas. We've managed to reach achievements, and I believe if we tell ourselves against this enemy that we want to reach its collapse in such and such time – we'll be able to get there."
