Senate Republicans predicted a continued escalation of U.S. and Israeli attacks on the Houthis following the group’s ballistic missile attack on Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport over the weekend, which American and Israeli air defenses failed to intercept.

The U.S. has been carrying out, and has pledged to continue, a heavy bombardment of the Iranian-backed Yemeni group for weeks. Though the pace of the Houthis’ onslaught has slowed, its continued attacks on Israel and repeated shoot-downs of U.S. drones have demonstrated that the group maintains significant capabilities. Israel launched its first direct attacks on Yemen in months on Monday, following the weekend strike.

“It’s pretty scary. I mean, it’s scary that they were able to get through both the American defense and the Israeli defense. It’s a dangerous place, and the only way this is gonna stop is when we start holding Iran accountable. This is not the Houthis, it’s Iran, so until they get held accountable, it’s not going to stop,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told Jewish Insider.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also suggested last week that the U.S. could begin targeting Iran directly in response to the continued Houthi attacks.

“We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing,” Hegseth threatened Iran on X. “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.

Other Republican senators shared Scott’s view that the Houthis are unlikely to cease their attacks and that Israel must respond militarily.

“They’re going to do what Israel normally does, which is they will have a strong response. I’m sure of that,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said. 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) told JI, “I think there’s going to be a response to the Houthis. They’re not going to be able to do this, they know that. They’re desperate right now, but I think what they probably did is [they] signed a death warrant for a lot of the people.”

“We’ve made it very clear, you stay in your lane, don’t attack us, don’t attack our allies, we’re probably going to leave you alone. You want to continue to continue to act stupid, you’re going to act stupid, we’re going to go after you. But who’s going to pay the biggest price, it is Iran, because Iran is the one that’s funding the Houthis, we all know that, and so Iran is going to end up paying,” Mullin said.

Asked about the Houthis’ attack, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said, “I think the president needs to turn them into fish food.”

The response from Democrats has been split. Some say the continued back-and-forth between the U.S. and the Houthis is to be expected, while others argue that the military campaign has not been effective and that the U.S. strategy should be reevaluated.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) posited that the group’s extreme goals will drive it to continue its attacks against Israel.

“I think we should anticipate escalating counterattacks by the Houthis. They’re fanatics and zealots bent on destroying Israel acting as Iran’s proxies and trying to destroy United States military assets and economic interests as well as Israel’s,” Blumenthal said. 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said that, while he hadn’t been briefed on the airport attack itself, he took issue with the Trump administration’s approach to combating the Houthis.

“Trump claims that these very expensive, very risky attacks inside Houthi territory [are] restoring deterrence. There seems to be no sign that it’s restoring deterrence,” Murphy said. “It doesn’t appear that they have significantly degraded the Houthis capability. In some cases, it seems like the Houthis’ behavior is more provocative now than it was before Trump, so it seems like it’s a moment for a broad reassessment of the strategy. It seems to be failing.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) described the Houthi strikes as “very troubling,” but said that the previous ceasefire agreements in Gaza had been the sole mechanism by which the U.S. had made any progress with stopping the Houthis.

“The only thing that’s worked with the Houthis in the last couple years has been the ceasefire in Gaza, that’s it. When the ceasefire happened in November of ‘23, the short one, they ratcheted down and they ratcheted down during the last ceasefire that we just had that completed. That’s one of the reasons why I think the focus has to be: if you can do ceasefire and hostage release, you’re going to get the Houthis to back off. If not, you won’t,” Kaine told JI, adding that he was “troubled by the notion that [Israel is] going to ratchet up more military operations in Gaza.”