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Netanyahu warns Houthis amid calls for Israel to wipe out terror leadership as it did with Nasrallah, Sinwar

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Netanyahu warns Houthis amid calls for Israel to wipe out terror leadership as it did with Nasrallah, Sinwar

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TEL AVIV – Amid negotiations to forge a hostages-for-cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and as the truce with Hezbollah in Lebanon mostly holds, Jerusalem has an opportunity to direct additional military resources to cut Yemen’s Houthi leadership down to size, according to former Israeli officials.

“Israel has to accelerate and expand attacks [in Yemen], not only on national infrastructure but also on the political leadership,” retired Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli Military Intelligence and president of MIND Israel, told Fox News Digital. 

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“Targeted killings are an option if there is good intelligence to enable such operations. The leaders of the Houthis should meet Sinwar and Nasrallah and the sooner the better,” he added.

US NAVY SHIPS REPEL ATTACK FROM HOUTHIS IN GULF OF ADEN

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu split screen with Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi, leader of the Houthis. (Getty Images)

An Israel Defense Forces strike killed Hezbollah terror master Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon, on Sept. 28, while Israeli ground troops eliminated Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Oct. 17, and Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh in Iran last summer.

Houthi terror leaders:

The Houthis are led by Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi (Abu Jibril), whom the U.S. State Department designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2021.

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According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), other top officials include Abdul Khaliq Badruddin Al-Houthi (Abu Yunis), commander of the Republican Guard (Presidential Reserve), whom the U.S. also blacklisted in 2021; Muhammad Ali Al-Houthi (Abu Ahmad), a member of the Supreme Political Council; and Abdul Karim Amiruddin Husayn Al-Houthi, interior minister and director of the executive office of Ansar Allah.

An undated picture of Houthi terror leader Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi. FDD's Long War Journal notes he was designated by the State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2021.

An undated picture of Houthi terror leader Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi. FDD’s Long War Journal notes he was designated by the State Department as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2021. (FDD’s Long War Journal)

Joe Truzman, a research analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital that intel-based assassination operations take time and that, to date, the Israelis have been preoccupied with Gaza and Lebanon.

“But it can be done. We’ve seen Israel target nuclear scientists and military personnel in Iran. This can be replicated in Yemen. If the Houthis continue these attacks, more of Israel’s focus turns to them,” Truzman said.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser in Israel and a senior fellow at the Washington-based JINSA think tank, outlined to Fox News Digital the intricacy of such attempts.

US MILITARY CONDUCTS SUCCESSFUL AIRSTRIKES ON HOUTHI REBEL FORCES IN YEMEN

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IDF attack on Yemen

A handout picture obtained from Yemen’s Huthi Ansarullah Media Center shows a huge column of fire erupting following IDF strikes in the Yemeni rebel-held port city of Hodeida on July 20, 2024. (Ansarullah Media Center/AFP via Getty Images)

“You have to be sure that a target is in the place that you bomb. If he has three houses, how do you know which one he’s in? You need real-time intel,” said Amidror, who noted that it was relatively easy for Israel to hit Nasrallah from the moment his exact location was known.

“It took 15-20 minutes to strike [the Hezbollah headquarters] in Beirut because it is so close to Israel,” he said. “Yemen is a huge logistical operation, it requires refueling jets, let alone the tactical issues on the ground. A totally different sort of intelligence is needed.

“Both Nasrallah and Sinwar were known enemies and we amassed information on them over many years, but the Houthis were not a priority,” continued Amidror. “The way forward is to begin intensifying the collection of intelligence by building bridges with those who can provide it.” 

Overnight Wednesday, the IAF struck targets some 1,200 miles away in Yemen, after a Houthi missile hit an elementary school in Ramat Gan, just east of Tel Aviv.

Hassan Nasrallah

IDF profile picture showing Hezbollah terror chief Hassan Nasrallah, who the IDF confirmed was killed in a strike in September. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)

The pre-dawn strikes were conducted in two waves, targeting the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea, the Hodeidah and Salif ports, as well as the D’Habban and Haziz power stations in Sana’a, according to reports.

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In July, a Houthi drone killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, prompting the IAF to strike Yemen’s Hodeidah Port. Israeli jets also conducted dozens of strikes in the area of Hodeidah in September.

Overall, the Houthis have launched over 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre of 1,200 people. Since then, the Houthis have also attacked more than six dozen commercial vessels – particularly in the Bab-el-Mandeb, the southern maritime gateway to Egypt’s Suez Canal.

“The distance to Yemen is about the longest range the IAF has ever flown, but they could expand that with more refueling,” Brig. Gen. (res.) Relik Shafir, a former IAF pilot who took part in Operation Opera, the attack on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor on June 7, 1981, told Fox News Digital. 

“It’s uncomfortable for a pilot to sit in an F-15, F-16 or F-35 for seven hours. You need to be fully aware and at your top level of concentration,” he continued. “Israel can strike far enough for any existing enemy and the air force uses guided missiles that fire at a precision of two or three feet.”

Sinwar poster in Iran

Deceased Hamas terror chief Yahya Sinwar on a poster in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 13, 2024. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)

On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a warning to the Houthis, “We will strike their strategic infrastructure and decapitate their leaders. Just as we did to [former Hamas chief Ismail] Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah, in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon – we will do in Hodeidah and Sanaa.” 

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Jerusalem had previously refrained from taking responsibility for the July 31 killing of Haniyeh, who traveled to the Iranian capital for the inauguration of the country’s president.

On Friday, U.S. Defense Department spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder stated that the Israelis “certainly have a right to defend themselves.” 

Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and his bodyguard were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Aug. 1, 2024 in Tehran.

Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas and his bodyguard were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Aug. 1, 2024 in Tehran. (Cem Tekkesinoglu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The Houthis “are a danger to everybody in the Middle East,” former Mossad head Efraim Halevy told Fox News Digital. “In the end, most countries in the region will be interested and willing to cooperate in efforts to bring about the end of these attacks, which have no justification whatsoever.”

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES TARGET YEMEN’S HOUTHI-CONTROLLED CAPITAL OF SANAA, PORT CITY OF HODEIDA

Israeli Air Force jets depart for strikes in Yemen.

Israeli Air Force jets depart for strikes in Yemen. (IDF)

Halevy insisted that “terrorist activity of every kind is a challenge that has to be met with an appropriate response. The Houthis have incurred losses and if they continue to provoke us, we will have to do more.”

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In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched a military intervention against the Houthis at the request of then-Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been ousted from Sana’a the previous September. Yemen’s civil war remains stalemated, with the internationally recognized government, led by the Presidential Leadership Council since 2022, based in Aden, in the country’s south, since February 2015.

A source close to that government told Israel’s Kan public broadcaster on Saturday that Jerusalem should initiate assassinations of Houthi leaders, while the Saudi outlet Al-Arabiya reported that senior Houthi officials had fled Sana’a out of concern they would be targeted.

“We need to understand more deeply what it is that would cripple the Houthis’ ability to operate,” former Israeli national security adviser Eyal Hulata told Fox News Digital. “For this, we need more intelligence, more assessments and coordination between the different parties.”

Houthi militants in vehicles

Houthi fighters man heavy machine guns mounted on vehicles at a rally in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)

The big question, Hulata posited, is whether the Houthis will continue to pose a threat if Israel and Hamas agree to a cease-fire.

“If they become a major enemy, Israel will need to address this by directing resources it was hoping to avoid – and maybe is still hoping to,” he said.

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On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Israelis to be “patient” while intimating Jerusalem was preparing to up the intensity of its campaign against the Houthis.

“We will take forceful, determined and sophisticated action. Even if it takes time, the result will be the same,” he vowed. “Just as we have acted forcefully against the terror arms of Iran’s axis of evil, so too will we act against the Houthis.”

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World

Justin Baldoni Sued by Former Publicist Amid Blake Lively Scandal

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Justin Baldoni Sued by Former Publicist Amid Blake Lively Scandal

Justin Baldoni‘s former publicist sued him, his company and his current publicity team on Tuesday, amid a spiraling scandal over an alleged smear campaign against Baldoni’s “It Ends With Us” co-star Blake Lively.

Steph Jones, who owns Jonesworks, accused Baldoni of breaching their contract, which required him to pay her $25,000 per month. Baldoni dropped the firm in August, a few months into a year-long deal, after his Jonesworks publicist, Jennifer Abel, left the company to start her own publicity firm.

Jones also sued Abel and publicist Melissa Nathan, accusing them of implementing the smear campaign against Lively behind her back and without her knowledge. She alleges that they are now trying to blame her for the ensuing meltdown.

“To this day, Abel and Nathan continue to point the finger falsely at Jones now that their own misconduct is coming to light, and to defame and attack Jones in the industry,” the lawsuit states.

Lively filed a complaint on Saturday with the California Civil Rights Department, accusing Baldoni and his publicists of orchestrating negative coverage about her in retaliation for her complaints of sexual harassment on set.

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In the complaint, Lively accused Baldoni of a catalog of sexually inappropriate comments and behavior that allegedly took place on set in 2023. According to the complaint, she raised these issues through her attorneys before filming, which had been suspended during the Hollywood strikes, resumed earlier this year.

The rift between Baldoni and Lively became apparent during the publicity tour for the film last summer. Baldoni feared that Lively or her team would public accuse him of sexual misconduct, and sought ways to combat that. The complaint quoted extensively from text messages among Baldoni’s publicity team, in which they plotted to “bury” Lively.

In an unusual move, Lively’s attorneys obtained the messages by sending a pre-litigation subpoena to Jones.

Abel, Nathan, and Baldoni are represented by attorney Bryan Freedman. On Monday, Freedman threatened to sue Jones for releasing the contents of Abel’s phone to Lively’s legal team. Freedman, Abel and Nathan did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Jones’ suit.

In her lawsuit, Jones relates that she “forensically preserved” Abel’s company phone after Abel was fired.

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“Abel and Nathan’s covert take down and smear campaigns were revealed in black and white on Abel’s company-issued phone following her termination, which Jonesworks forensically preserved and examined in detail after receiving a subpoena for the phone’s contents,” Jones’ suit states. “Jones discovered the breadth and intensity of Abel and Nathan’s duplicity from these records, including that Abel was actively encouraging other Jonesworks clients and employees to leave Jonesworks while Abel was still employed there.”

Jones’ suit alleges that Abel conspired for months to leave her company and to “steal” her clients and trash her reputation in the industry. She accuses Nathan of encouraging Abel to leave, because Nathan would then have greater access to those clients.

“This scheme ultimately inflicted serious damage on Jones and Jonesworks,” states the lawsuit, which was filed in state court in New York.

Among other things, the suit alleges that Abel and Nathan planted negative stories about Jones in the press, including an article in Business Insider that was published last summer.

The suit alleges breach of contract, tortious interference with contract, breach of fiduciary duty and defamation.

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Police officer dressed as the 'Grinch' steals Christmas spirit during drug bust

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Police officer dressed as the 'Grinch' steals Christmas spirit during drug bust

A Peruvian police officer dressed as the Grinch, the cantankerous and green-furred villain, busted suspected drug traffickers in the South American country’s capital days before Christmas. 

The operation in San Bartolo in Lima resulted in the arrest of three suspects, according to a video posted online by the Peruvian National Police. 

“In an ingenious operation, agents of the Green Squad arrested the aliases La Reina del Sur, La Coneja and Pote, alleged members of the La Mafia de San Bartolo gang, dedicated to drug dealing,” a police post on X states. “Various narcotics were seized.”

FLORIDA MAN WHO WAS HALF-NAKED, ‘HIGH ON METH’ BREAKS INTO HOME, GRABS CARPET CLEANER

The “Grinch” posing with suspected drug traffickers. A Peruvian police officer dressed as the Christmas villain helped bust the alleged traffickers.  (Peru National Police)

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Using what appeared to be a sledgehammer, the officer walked down the street dressed as the infamous Christmas villain with a small heart before breaking down the front door of a home and entering, according to the video footage. 

The suspects were arrested, and the “Grinch” is seen rummaging through various items in the home before finding what authorities said were illegal drugs and other items related to drug trafficking.

MORE THAN $31M OF METH CONCEALED IN SHIPMENT OF PEPPERS SEIZED AT TEXAS-MEXICO BORDER

The Grinch with a hammer

A Peruvian police officer dressed as the “Grinch” on his way to bust suspected drug traffickers.  (Peru National Police )

Peru is the second-largest producer of cocaine and cultivator of coca in the world, according to the State Department. 

“The majority of cocaine produced in Peru is transported to South American countries for domestic consumption, or for onward shipment to Europe, the United States, East Asia, and Mexico,” the State Department website said. 

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Peru’s national police force has carried out similar operations in the past. 

The "Grinch" busting down a door

The “Grinch” busting down a door (Peru National Police)

On Halloween 2023, officers disguised as horror favorites Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Tiffany Valentine, the murderous doll in the “Child’s Play” series, also broke into the home of alleged drug dealers. 

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Are your Christmas gifts ready? Here are where EU toys come from

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Are your Christmas gifts ready? Here are where EU toys come from

While the EU saw a drop in toy exports, China was the EU’s biggest supplier, providing 80% of these imports, valued at €5.2 billion.

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In 2023, the EU imported €6.5 billion worth of toys from countries outside the bloc, a €2 billion decrease compared to 2022. 

According to the latest Eurostat figures, China was the EU’s biggest supplier, providing 80% of these imports, valued at €5.2 billion. 

Vietnam followed with 6% and the United Kingdom with 2%. 

Around a fifth of the EU’s toy imports ended up in Germany, while France and the Netherlands received 16% and 14%, respectively. 

At the same time, the EU exported €2.3 billion worth of toys in 2023.  

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This figure represents a slight decrease of €0.2 billion from the previous year. 

More than half of the toys exported from the EU came from the Czech Republic, Germany and Belgium. 

The UK was the top destination for EU toy exports, receiving 30% of the total, followed by Switzerland at 13% and the United States at 10%. 

Concerns over toy safety

A recent Toy Industries of Europe study revealed that 80% of toys purchased from third-party sellers on online marketplaces failed to meet EU safety standards.

The research tested over 100 toys from various platforms, uncovering serious health risks such as choking hazards and toxic chemicals.

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At the beginning of September, the European Parliament backed a proposal to improve the safety of toys available on the EU market.

The proposal focused particularly on decreasing the number of unsafe toys in the EU market and better protecting children from toy-related risks, including banning harmful chemicals in toys.

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