Tel Aviv: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile which landed in an open area in central Israel for the first time early Sunday morning. The missile triggered air raid sirens at Israel’s international airport, escalating the tension in the region. Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a strong message saying that Israel would inflict a heavy price on the Iran-aligned Houthis, who control Northern Yemen.
Meanwhile, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea confirmed the missile attack saying that the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040 km (1270 miles) in just eleven-and-a-half minutes.
Initially, it was said that the missile had fallen in an open area. However, later Israel’s military said it had probably fragmented in the air, and that pieces of interceptors had landed in fields and near a railway station. Nobody was reported hurt.
No Reports Of Casualties Or Damage Surfaced
There were no reports of casualties or major damage, but Israeli media aired footage showing people racing to shelters in Ben Gurion International Airport. The airport authority said that it resumed normal operations shortly thereafter.
A fire could be seen in a rural area of central Israel, and local media showed images of what appeared to be a fragment from an interceptor that landed on an escalator in a train station in the central town of Modiin.
Israel’s army said the surface-to-surface missile was intercepted by Israel’s defence system, which hit and fragmented the target but did not destroy it. It said the missile appeared to have fragmented midair. The military said the sound of explosions in the area came from interceptors.
The Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis, have repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel since the start of the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but nearly all of them have been intercepted over the Red Sea.
In July, an Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis struck Tel Aviv, killing one person and wounding 10 others. Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas of Yemen, including the port city of Hodeidah, a Houthi stronghold.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, at a weekly cabinet meeting, said that the Houthis should have known that Israel would exact a “heavy price” for attacks on Israel. “Whoever needs a reminder of that is invited to visit the Hodeida port,” Netanyahu said, referring to an Israeli retaliatory air strike against Yemen in July for a Houthi drone that hit Tel Aviv.
The Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians, since the Gaza war began with a Hamas attack on Israel in October.
The drone that hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July killed a man and wounded four people. Israeli air strikes in response on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah killed six and wounded 80.
Previously, Houthi missiles have not penetrated deep into Israeli airspace, with the only one reported to have hit Israeli territory falling in an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.
Israel should expect more strikes in the future “as we approach the first anniversary of the October 7 operation, including responding to its aggression on the city of Hodeidah”, Sarea said.
The deputy head of the Houthi’s media office, Nasruddin Amer, said in a post on X on Sunday that the missile had reached Israel after “20 missiles failed to intercept” it, describing it as the “beginning”.
The Israeli military also said that 40 projectiles were fired towards Israel from Lebanon on Sunday and were either intercepted or landed in open areas.
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