‘Israel has abandoned the old formulas of proportional retaliation,’ former Mossad officer says, following Jewish state’s decimating Houthi strike
Israel rolled out its new “FAFO” doctrine, short for “f— around and find out,” with a strike last week that killed the Houthi prime minister, foreign minister, and at least 10 other officials in the rebel-controlled Yemeni capital of Sanaa, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Israeli intelligence picked up signals that senior Houthi leaders were gathering to watch a speech by their chief, Abdul Malik al-Houthi. Just a few hours later, Israeli jets struck the conference hall. Military analysts said the strike reflects Israel’s new posture of hitting leaders directly instead of infrastructure targets, a shift summed up by one security official as “FAFO.”
“Israel has abandoned the old formulas of proportional retaliation,” Oded Ailam, a former Mossad officer told the Journal.
Among those killed were Houthi prime minister Ahmed Ghalib al-Rahwi and several cabinet members of the Iranian-backed militia. They were key players in the Houthis’ campaign of missile and drone attacks on Israel and their harassment of international shipping through the Red Sea.
The Houthis vowed revenge after the strike, but the attacks that followed, including drones and ballistic missiles aimed at Israel, failed to cause damage.
Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said what’s left of the Houthi leadership is “fleeing” Sanaa in the aftermath of the operation and warned they will be hunted wherever they go, vowing further action against the militia’s leadership if attacks continue.
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