Yemen’s Houthis claim ballistic missile strike on ‘sensitive’ target in Israel

Sanaa/Jerusalem: Yemen’s Houthi group announced Saturday that it had launched a ballistic missile targetting a “sensitive” site in southern Israel, activating air defence sirens in Israel for the first time since a ceasefire for the Israel-Iran conflict went into effect on Tuesday.

The strike, using a Zulfiqar ballistic missile, had “successfully hit its target,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised statement aired by the group’s al-Masirah TV channel.

Saree added that earlier in the week, Houthi forces carried out “several military operations” targetting “sensitive” sites and military facilities in three Israeli cities: Beer Sheva, Jaffa (Tel Aviv), and Haifa, using a number of ballistic missiles and drones. All of the operations, he said, were “successfully executed.”

He said the operations were “a form of support for the oppressed Palestinian people,” vowing that the group would continue its “supportive military operations until the aggression on Gaza ceases and the blockade is lifted.”

Meanwhile, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a statement that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israel on Saturday morning was “most likely successfully intercepted.”

Israel’s national emergency service, Magen David Adom, said that there were no immediate reports of hits or casualties, Xinhua news agency reported.

Following the launch, air defence sirens sounded across large areas of southern Israel, including the cities of Beer Sheva and Dimona as well as the Dead Sea region, sending hundreds of thousands of residents to shelters.

On Thursday, Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said that his forces have launched 309 ballistic, hypersonic missiles, and drones at Israel since mid-March, as part of what the group calls the second phase of its military campaign.

In a televised speech marking the Islamic New Year, broadcast by the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV, al-Houthi said 25 missiles and drones were launched this month alone in what he described as “qualitative military operations in support of Gaza.”

He reaffirmed that the Red Sea remains closed to Israeli-linked maritime traffic and accused Israel of continuing its offensive in Gaza with US backing.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government, meanwhile, accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of directly controlling the missile systems used by Houthi forces.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said Tehran was using Yemen as “an advanced missile platform” to threaten regional and international security while avoiding direct confrontation.

The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, began targetting Israel in November 2023, weeks after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, in what they say is an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

IANS