In first, US THAAD system deployed in Israel assists in Houthi missile interception
Iran-backed rebels say fresh air strikes hit Yemeni capital, several hours after terrorists launch ballistic missile at Israel for 5th time in eight nights

An American missile defense system battery participated in the interception of a Houthi ballistic missile launched at Israel from Yemen early on Friday, the first time the system has been used since being deployed by the US in Israel in October.
The THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, was used to try to intercept the missile, and an analysis would determine THAAD’s success, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Footage posted to social media showed the THAAD system launching an interceptor.
“Eighteen years I’ve been waiting for this,” an American soldier can be heard saying in the clip.
The IDF said the Houthi missile was intercepted by air defenses, without specifying if this was an Israeli or American system.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
מערכת ה- THAAD האמריקנית לקחה חלק ביירוט הטיל הבליסטי ששוגר אמש מתימן. אפשר לשמוע את אחד החיילים האמריקניים מתרגש "18 שנים חיכיתי לזה" pic.twitter.com/s4VoMfMhaF
— איתי בלומנטל ???????? Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) December 27, 2024
Security sources speaking to the Walla news site said THAAD intercepted the missile and added that the interception projected strength in the Middle East by demonstrating to Israel’s adversaries the US-Israeli partnership over missile defense.
Former Air Defense Commander Brig. Gen. (res) Zvika Haimovich told Walla that US air defense activity in Israel is unusual because the US has subordinated its forces to Israeli command, whereas in other parts of the world, the US takes charge.
The THAAD battery was deployed in Israel following Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack.
Fresh strikes in Sanaa
On Friday evening, the Iran-back Houthis said a fresh air strike hit Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa, although it was not immediately clear who was behind the strike.
The Houthis blamed the strike on “US-British aggression,” but there was no immediate comment from Israel, the US or Britain.
“I heard the blast. My house shook,” one Sanaa resident told AFP late Friday.
The Houthi’s pre-dawn Friday missile attack on Israel was the fifth in the last eight days and caused sirens to sound in large swaths of central Israel.
The Iran-backed group claimed to have targeted Ben Gurion Airport.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said 18 people were lightly hurt while rushing to bomb shelters, and two people suffered acute anxiety attacks.

On Thursday, Israeli warplanes struck Houthi targets along Yemen’s western coast and deeper within the country, including “infrastructure used by the Houthi terror regime for its military activities” at Sanaa International Airport, and the Hezyaz power plant just outside the Houthi-controlled capital.
The strikes followed days of increasingly bellicose threats from Israeli leaders vowing to decimate the Iran-backed terror group after its near-daily attacks.
The Houthis, a rebel group that is dedicated to the destruction of Israel and Jews, have launched more than 200 missiles and 170 drones at Israel in the past year, according to the IDF.
The vast majority did not reach Israel or were intercepted by the military or Israel’s allies in the region, the army has said.
The Iran-backed group has also carried out repeated missile and drone attacks on some 100 merchant vessels attempting to traverse the Red Sea, forcing many carriers to avoid the key waterway and hamstringing global shipping. The Houthis initially said they were going to attack Israel-linked ships but few of the vessels targeted had ties to Israel.
The Houthis have vowed to keep up the attacks until the end of the war in the Gaza Strip that began on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage to Gaza.