The United States on Saturday said it struck targets in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, hours after a missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck and wounded people in the central Israel city of Tel Aviv.

The missile, which wounded 16 people, was the second such attack in two days.

Among the targets of US forces was a Houthi missile storage center and a “command-and-control facility,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

It said that it had conducted the strikes “to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against US Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden.

American forces also shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile over the Red Sea, it said, shortly after the rebels’ Al-Masirah TV channel reported that an “aggression” had targeted the Attan district of Sanaa, blaming Western forces.

“The strike reflects CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment to protect US and coalition personnel, regional partners, and international shipping,” CENTCOM added.

American and British forces have repeatedly struck rebel targets in Yemen this year in response to Houthi attacks on shipping in Red Sea-area waters vital to global trade.

Israel has also previously struck back, including against ports and energy facilities, after Houthi drones and missiles caused death and destruction in Israel on multiple occasions.

The Houthis began their attacks following Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel, seeking to add pressure on Israel, along with other Iran-aligned groups such as Hezbollah.

The Houthis have launched more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the past year. According to the IDF, the vast majority did not reach Israel or were intercepted by the military and Israeli allies in the region.

The group has also carried out repeated missile and drone attacks on some 100 merchant vessels attempting to traverse the Red Sea, forcing many carriers to avoid the key waterway and hamstringing global shipping.

The Iran-backed rebels had claimed responsibility for the Saturday strike on Israel, saying they directed a ballistic missile at “a military target of the Israeli enemy.”

The IDF said it failed to intercept the missile and is looking into the details of the event.

“I was at home and heard a loud explosion. I immediately went to the scene and saw significant blast damage to nearby buildings,” medic Yosef Kourdi was quoted as saying in a statement released by Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom.

“MDA teams provided medical care to 16 individuals who were mildly injured by glass shards from shattered windows in nearby buildings due to the impact of the strike,” the statement said.

Ido Barnea, an IT manager whose apartment was damaged, told AFP a missile alert had sounded just before 4:00 a.m.

“Then there was a big ball of fire in the sky,” he said. “I didn’t even manage to get up and get dressed to go out.”

An AFP photographer reported that many residents in the vicinity of the strike had to leave their homes, carrying only the essentials.

AFP images showed a large crater where the missile hit, and debris in the bedroom of a nearby house that was damaged.

Police swiftly cordoned off the neighborhood.

Noa Mosseri, whose apartment was also damaged, told AFP she, too, heard the missile alert.

“We were very lucky because we didn’t have time to get to a safe place. Within seconds there was a boom. We managed to get out and so we were not hurt,” she said.

In their statement on Saturday, the Houthi rebels pledged to continue their attacks against Israel “until the aggression stops and the siege on the Gaza Strip is lifted.”

The attack came two days after the rebels fired a missile that damaged an Israeli school.

Early on Thursday morning, a Houthi projectile was partially intercepted outside Israeli airspace by air defenses. However, the warhead didn’t explode in the air and crashed into an empty school building in the city of Ramat Gan, causing severe damage but no injuries.

Shortly afterward, the IDF carried out intense airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen (the operation had been planned for weeks, with the planes already in the air when the missile was launched).

Dozens of planes struck Houthi targets along Yemen’s western coast and, for the first time, in the rebel-held capital Sana’a.

Rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Huthi said nine civilians were killed in the strikes.