Yemen-based Houthis — the last of Iran-backed groups still fully present in the regional war that began 14 months ago — are slowly escalating attacks on Israel with an eye to avoid full-out retaliation.

The Israeli military said the airstrikes targeted infrastructure that the Houthis have used to bring Iranian weapons and officials into Yemen.

As Israel and Yemen-based Houthis have exchanged fire five times in the past two weeks, it increasingly appears that Yemen is the next battlefield in West Asia after Gaza Strip and Lebanon where an Ir