Netanyahu vows to respond to Houthis and 'their Iranian terror masters' after airport strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday vowed to respond against the Houthi rebels and “their Iranian terror masters" after the group fired a missile at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

President Trump said in a post on Truth Social in mid-March that “hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN.”

“Any further attack or retaliation by the ‘Houthis’ will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there. Iran has played ‘the innocent victim’ of rogue terrorists from which they’ve lost control, but they haven’t lost control,” he added.

In response to Trump’s earlier post, Netanyahu said in his Sunday post on the social platform X that the president “is absolutely right!”

“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran. Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters,” Netanyahu said.

Yemen-based Houthi rebels launched a missile that hit close to the main terminal of Israel's biggest airport early Sunday morning. Eight people were injured via the strike, according to Israeli media.

In the wake of the strike, Netanyahu called an immediate meeting of his security Cabinet. Defense Minister Israel Katz said his country’s military would respond.

“Whoever harms us will be harmed by us sevenfold,” Katz said in a statement to multiple outlets. 

Last Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened Iran over its support for Houthi militants.

“Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing. You know very well what the U.S. Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing,” the Defense secretary wrote in a previous post on the social platform X.