The Israel Air Force launched at least seven airstrikes against the Houthi port city of Hodeidah in retaliation to a ballistic missile fired at Tel Aviv. The strikes hit the port's tank farm and a power plant.

The Israel Defense Force's Chief of the General Staff, General Herzi Halevi, describes the action this way: “This is not a message, it is an action — an action that carries a message with it.”

Message indeed.

Last night, we saw another "action that carries a message with it." The Israel Defense Force crossed into southern Lebanon to eradicate the Hezbollah presence from where it has no right to be under UN Resolution 1701.

For decades, the Iranian regime has used Hezbollah and the Houthis as a shield to protect itself from its actions. The Houthis could be relied upon to close the Red Sea during a crisis and jack up shipping rates to pressure the civilized world to bow to Tehran. Hezbollah was Iran's ace-in-the-hole that made any decision by Israel to attack Iran's nuclear weapons infrastructure guaranteed to provoke an attack on Israeli cities by Hezbollah.

Israel has decided to break this strategic stalemate. //

Iran's main strategic partner, Russia, is mired in a war in Ukraine. It no longer has the weapons to send to Iran, and no sane person is in awe of Russia's military.

Hamas has totally collapsed, and its leadership is either dead or trying to find a clean pair of brown trousers in the bunker.

The failed April 13 Iranian missile and drone blitz of Israel reveals just how flimsy and inferior its offensive weaponry was when confronted by Israel's defenses. This further degraded Iran's ability to deter Israeli action.

The Hezbollah ally they have cultivated for a half-century has been decapitated like no other combatant in history. In the space of less than two weeks, the entire "middle management" of Hezbollah was gutted by a wave of exploding pagers and other electronic devices... //

Iran will now accelerate its move to nuclear breakout, but the air attack on Hodeidah, Yemen, and the removal of Hezbollah forces as a cohesive fighting unit sent another message.

The range circle depicts the distance from Tel Aviv to Hodeidah.

Iran's nuclear weapons project is within the range of Israeli air power, and they won't have to fly over Hezbollah-manned air defense sites in Lebanon to get to them.