IDF says it shot down missile from Yemen, after sirens sound across central Israel
Surface-to-surface missile intercepted using Arrow 3 air defense system; 17-year-old moderately hurt by car pulling off road amid attack; Houthis take responsibility
Israeli air defenses intercepted a surface-to-surface ballistic missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, the military said after sirens were activated in Tel Aviv and across central Israel early Friday morning.
The Israel Defense Forces said the missile was downed “outside the country’s borders” by the long-range Arrow 3 air defense system, adding that warning alerts were triggered due to concerns about falling shrapnel from the interception.
The Arrow 3 system is designed to take out ballistic missiles while they are still outside of the atmosphere. As a result of the exoatmospheric interception, sirens were activated in a wide area.
The IDF also said there were no new instructions from the Home Front Command following the attack.
There were no reports of direct impacts from the shrapnel and no one was directly hurt by falling debris. However, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said a 17-year-old girl was moderately hurt after being struck by a car pulling to the side of the road amid the attack.
The girl was conscious and taken to a local hospital, according to MDA, which said another 17 people were lightly hurt after falling on their way to shelters or as the result of acute anxiety.
The Iran-backed Houthis took responsibility for the attack, saying that it had launched a ballistic missile at a military target in Tel Aviv, and also launched a drone at a “vital target” in Ashkelon. The IDF said it was unaware of any drone reaching Israel overnight.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will carry out more military operations against the Israeli enemy in triumph for the blood of our people in Palestine and Lebanon, and will not stop supportive military operations during the coming days until the Israeli aggression on Gaza and Lebanon stops,” Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement.
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A Houthi official hinted that the attack was in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike Thursday that killed senior Hezbollah leader Mohammed Srur, whose death was confirmed by the Lebanese terror group shortly before the sirens sounded in Israel.
Srur was among several top advisers sent by Hezbollah to Yemen to train the Houthis, who are also backed by Iran, a source close to Hezbollah told AFP.
The IDF, which described Srur as Hezbollah’s aerial forces, said he was Hezbollah’s attaché to Yemen where he was involved in the Houthis’ aerial forces.
The strike targeting Srur was the fourth in a week targeting Hezbollah commanders in the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut, one of the Shiite organization’s strongholds, with fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensifying after nearly a year of cross-border skirmishes.
The missile attack from Yemen came after Hezbollah fired a surface-to-surface missile at Tel Aviv early Wednesday, the first time it has had a rocket reach close to Israel’s central hub. Hezbollah said the attack was a response to thousands of pager and walkie-talkie explosions among its ranks — widely attributed to but not officially claimed by Israel — and the recent assassinations of the top commanders in IDF airstrikes.
Yemen’s Houthis have fired over 220 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at Israel over the past 11 months — mostly toward the southernmost city of Eilat — saying, similarly to Hezbollah, that the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been battling Hamas since the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 attack.
The Yemeni rebels have also launched several attacks targeting Tel Aviv, including a surface-to-surface missile earlier this month and a drone in July that killed a man at his apartment.
Following the deadly attack, Israel struck the main harbor in Yemen controlled by the Houthis.
Agencies contributed to this report.
