Yemeni rebels claim missile, drone attacks on Israel

Days after an attack on Tel Aviv left 16 people injured, Yemen’s Huthi rebels claimed Wednesday that they had fired two drones and a ballistic missile against Israel.

In the south of the country, close to the Gaza Strip, alarms sounded, and one drone “fell in an open area” before Israel’s military claimed to have intercepted the missile.

“The UAV (drone) force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out two military operations” targeting Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv and the southern city of Ashkelon, a Huthi military statement said.

The Huthis had previously declared that the missile was also headed toward the Tel Aviv region. It was shot down before it reached Israeli land, according to the Israelis.

According to a military statement from the Huthi, the attack was executed “using a hypersonic ballistic missile, type Palestine 2”.

Since the battle in Gaza began more than a year ago, the Iran-backed Huthis have launched rockets against Israel on numerous occasions in support of the Palestinians.

The majority have been stopped, but on Saturday, an incident in Tel Aviv injured sixteen people, leading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue a warning.

“We will act against the Huthis… with force, determination and sophistication,” he said in a video statement on Sunday.

In the missile attack on Wednesday, air raid sirens sounded over a wide swathe of central Israel as a precaution against falling debris.

“A missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory,” the military said in a statement.

Israel’s emergency medical services said there were no recorded injuries.

The Israeli army claimed to have stopped a rocket fired from Yemen on Tuesday.

Retaliatory attacks on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah followed a Huthi drone attack on Tel Aviv in July that claimed the life of an Israeli civilian.

Additionally, the Huthis have frequently targeted commerce in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, which has resulted in retaliation strikes by US and occasionally British forces.