Israel struggles to deter escalating attacks from Yemen's Houthi rebels as other fronts calm

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The rockets from Gaza have mostly fallen silent. A ceasefire with Hezbollah militants in Lebanon has taken hold. But repeated fire from Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a faraway foe, is proving a stubborn threat for Israel.

The Iran-backed Houthis are stepping up their missile attacks, sending hundreds of thousands of Israelis scrambling for shelter in the middle of the night, scaring away foreign airlines and keeping up what could be the last major front in the Middle East wars.

“It's like musical chairs,” said Yoni Yovel, 31, who left the northern Israeli city of Haifa late last year to avoid rocket fire from Hezbollah only to see his apartment in Tel Aviv’s Jaffa neighborhood heavily damaged by a Houthi missile.

Israel has repeatedly bombarded ports, oil infrastructure and the airport in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) away. Israeli leaders have threatened to kill central Houthi figures and have tried to galvanize the world against the threat.

But the Houthis persist. In recent weeks, missiles and drones from Yemen have struck nearly every day, including early Friday morning, setting off air raid sirens in broad swaths of Israel. In some cases, the projectiles have penetrated Israel’s sophisticated aerial defense system, most recently toppling an empty school and shattering the windows of apartments near an empty playground where one missile landed.

Because most missiles are intercepted and because the fire is usually a single missile at a time, the strikes have not caused major physical damage, although a few attacks have been fatal during the 15-month war in Gaza as the Houthis attack in solidarity with Hamas.

But the rocket fire is posing a threat to Israel’s economy, keeping many foreign airlines away and preventing the country from jump-starting its hard-hit tourism industry.

Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have all but shuttered an Israeli port in the city of Eilat and have prompted ships destined for it to take a longer, more costly route around Africa to Israel's Mediterranean ports.

The Houthi strikes are also a symbolic reminder for Israel of the Iran-backed enemies that encircle it, known as the “Axis of Resistance,” and the last major holdout. And because Israel’s counterstrikes have yet to deter the Houthis, their persistent attacks defy Israel’s image as a regional military powerhouse.

“They are the only ones who are active now,” said Danny Citrinowicz, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank.

The Houthis, he said, “are a challenge of a different kind.”

Shortly after Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Houthis began striking Israel-linked ships in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait along Yemen’s coast. Those attacks expanded to include other ships with no ties to Israel, disrupting cargo and energy shipments that are critical for worldwide trade. The Houthis said it was part of their campaign aimed at pressuring Israel and the West over the war in Gaza.

In response, U.S. and partner forces have launched multiple rounds of coordinated airstrikes against Houthi launch sites and weapons storage sites.

Throughout the war, the Houthis have also been firing missiles and drones at Israel, at first focusing on Eilat and eventually broadening attacks to include major population centers and the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv. The launches have intensified in recent weeks.

“There was thunder the other night and my daughter thought it was a missile. She woke up and started screaming,” said Ibrahim Sosa, 53, whose home in Jaffa is near the site of a recent missile landing.

Israel has retaliated repeatedly and vowed to escalate if the attacks don't stop.

“We will hunt down all of the Houthis' leaders and we will strike them just as we have done in other places," said Defense Minister Israel Katz, shortly after Israeli jets struck Yemen last week.

The Israeli strikes have been deadly, with several people killed. Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told The Associated Press that Israel’s strikes focused on “military infrastructure which was used and directly contributed to Houthi terror activities, including to smuggle arms and finance their terror activities."

Hagari acknowledged the battle would be complex. And despite massive Israeli air power, the Houthis have continued their assaults. That stands in contrast to Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran — three other enemies Israel has largely neutralized over the past 15 months.

“Israel has many years of familiarity with those enemies. There is intelligence and there is the important element of a ground maneuver, and in Yemen we can't do that. The scale here is different,” said Eyal Pinko, a former Israeli defense official and senior research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, an Israeli think tank.

Yemen does not border Israel, and Israel cannot easily stage a ground invasion as it has in Gaza and Lebanon to dismantle enemies’ infrastructure. Israel has to orchestrate complex air missions to fly to Yemen, which are costly and limited in what they can achieve.

Pinko also said the Houthis have learned over years of fighting against a Saudi-led coalition how to bounce back from airstrikes.

While the Houthis have been active as an insurgent force for years, Israel hasn’t seen them as a priority or invested as much in gathering intelligence against them.

Against Hamas, yearslong intelligence helped target and erode the group's forces. With Hezbollah, Israel penetrated deep into the organization, allowing it to unleash an offensive last year that detonated the pagers of rank-and-file members and decimated its senior ranks in secret bunkers. In Iran, Israel struck Hamas’ top leader in an apartment in Tehran and knocked out many of its air defenses in an October strike that left parts of the capital exposed.

But the Houthis' hideouts, weapons and infrastructure are less known to Israel, making its counterstrikes somewhat less effective. Hagari recognized that Israel’s intelligence in Yemen was “an issue” and said the military was working to improve.

Until then, some in Israel are steeling themselves for a war of attrition with the distant enemy.

“There's no quick fix,” Citrinowicz said. “Even if the war in Gaza ends, this is a threat that will not disappear.”

Shrapnel marks from a missile attack launched from Yemen are visible on a tree in the Jaffa district of Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

FILE.- A large fire and plume of smoke is visible in the port city of Hodeida, Yemen, on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, after Israeli strikes on the Houthi-controlled city. (AP Photo,FIle)

Travelers walk through the nearly empty hallways of Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Men repair a damaged building near the site where a missile launched from Yemen struck the Jaffa district of Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

FILE.- Houthi supporters hold posters showing Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader recently assassinated in Tehran during an anti-Israel and anti-American rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman,File)

FILE.- Oil tanks burn at the port in Hodeidah, Yemen, Saturday, July 20, 2024. The Israeli army said it has struck several Houthi targets in western Yemen following a fatal drone attack by the rebel group in Tel Aviv the previous day. (AP Photo,File)

FILE.- Family and friends of Yevgeny Ferde attend his funeral at a cemetery in Rishon Lezion, Israel, on Sunday, July 21, 2024. Yevgeny Ferde was killed in central Tel Aviv by an explosive drone launched by the Yemeni Houthi militant group. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg,File)

Travelers check departing flights at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

FILE.- People take cover as a siren warns of incoming rockets fired from Yemen, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty,File)

A man works next to damaged building near the site where a missile launched from Yemen landed Jaffa district, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — After what Kawhi Leonard has gone through the past nine months, returning to the court for the Los Angeles Clippers was the easy part.

Leonard played 19 minutes and scored 12 points in his season debut Saturday night to help the Clippers beat the Atlanta Hawks 131-105.

The six-time All-Star forward missed the Clippers’ first 34 games with what the team described as right knee injury recovery. It was his first NBA game action since Game 3 of the Clippers’ Western Conference first-round playoff series against Dallas on April 26.

“We did the right steps to get me to this point,” Leonard said. "Playing basketball was the easy part of it. This is what I love to do. The hard part is not playing and having the rehab and not competing with my teammates.

Leonard was in the starting lineup and got a giant round of applause from the crowd at the Intuit Dome when he was introduced. He hit a 3-pointer on his first shot from the left wing with 9:57 remaining in the first quarter to tie it at 5-all.

Leonard was 4 of 11 from the floor, including three 3-pointers, along with three rebounds and one assist.

Both Leonard and coach Tyronn Lue stressed taking it slow as Leonard gets into playing shape.

“I took the shots that I got. Anybody watching that wants me to score 20 or 30 points and be aggressive, we are not on no one's timeframe," Leonard said. "We know what’s ahead of us and we have to keep building in the right direction. We were facing it like a preseason game tonight and we’ll keep moving the same way until I'm able to build up my minutes.”

Lue, who did not say how long Leonard would be on a minutes restriction, thought Leonard's first game back went well and that having him on the floor made things easier for everyone else.

“Just want him to ease into it. Didn’t want to force feed him. I thought our guys did a good job of not just sitting around watching him play and just continue to play the game,” Lue said. "It was good to have him, now we just have to continue to keep building off of it.”

Leonard has missed 290 regular-season games over the last eight years, including all of the 2021-22 season with knee trouble after being injured in the 2021 Western Conference semifinals against Utah.

If Saturday's game was any indication, a full-strength Clippers squad could surprise some people in the Western Conference. LA broke things open in the second quarter and at one point led by 27 points.

“With Kawhi on the floor, he can draw so much attention, double team and things like that. I’m able to finally get some catch-and-shoot 3s, play off rotation, being able to attack the basket, so it’s a lot easier," said guard Norman Powell, who had 20 points.

“And just defensively, where we’ve been playing and our defensive identity this year even before Kawhi came out today, I think it fits him perfectly and makes it hard for teams because we got so many guys that can switch and guard and defend one-on-one and now you got the help side, so I’m really excited. First game, he looked really good, so just continue to build on that.”

The Clippers are 20-15 record and in seventh place in the Western Conference. However, only 2 1/2 games separate the second- to seventh-place teams. After Paul George signed with Philadelphia and Leonard missing the first part of the season, the Clippers weren't expected to be five games over .500 at this point.

Lue stressed though that there is still a lot of the regular season left to play.

“A lot of room for improvement. We can get better,” he said. "Our guys have done a great job. James (Harden), Norm and Zu (Ivica Zubac) have really done a good job at just showing their veteran leadership but also carrying this team. Now we just got to be ready to build off of this. We’ve done a good job at holding it down until Kawhi got back, but now we got to continue to take those next steps to be a great team.”

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Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) shoots over Atlanta Hawks forward De'Andre Hunter during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, center, is defended by Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela, left, and Hawks forward De'Andre Hunter during the second half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, left, steals the ball from Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young during the first half of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea)

Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard looks on during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne-Kamin-Oncea)