The Israel Defense Force (IDF) intercepted a ballistic missile that appeared to be aimed at the southern port city of Eilat. Houthi forces in Yemen claimed responsibility for launching the missiles, saying they’d continue “until the Israeli aggression stops.”
“All the threats were intercepted outside the territory of the State of Israel. No intrusion into Israeli territory was detected,” the IDF said in an official statement afterward.
The projectile was destroyed by the Arrow missile system, a state-of-the-art defensive technology created in cooperation with the United States Missile Defense Agency, marking its first operational use by Israel. The air defense system was launched from the “Red Sea area,” the IDF stated.
Earlier Tuesday, the military confirmed that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) had entered Israeli airspace and were shot down. “A warning was activated about the intrusion of a hostile aircraft in the Eilat region. The details are under review,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari wrote on X following the incident.
The announcement led Houthi prime minister Abdel-Aziz Bin Habtour to confirm the group’s responsibility. “These drones belong to the state of Yemen,” the official said, according to a French news agency.
In mid-October, the U.S. Navy acknowledged that it had downed cruise missiles and several drones in the northern Red Sea launched by the Yemen-based group likely targeting Israel. “We cannot say for certain what these missiles and drones were targeting, but they were launched from Yemen heading north along the Red Sea potentially to targets in Israel,” Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said following the incident.
🔴 Additional explosions reported in Eilat area, in southern Israel, as second drone possibly intercepted
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) October 31, 2023
In January 2022, the White House publicly contemplated restoring the Houthis to its list of recognized foreign terrorist organizations. “The answer is, it’s under consideration,” President Joe Biden said at the time.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE welcomed news of reimposing the status. The “case is clear – launching ballistic and cruise missiles against civilian targets, sustaining aggression, diverting aid to Yemeni people,” the latter’s embassy wrote on X following the president’s comments.
The Biden administration had overturned former president Donald Trump’s last-minute decision to classify the Houthis as a terrorist group before leaving office in 2021. “This decision is a recognition of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen. We have listened to warnings from the United Nations, humanitarian groups, and bipartisan members of Congress, among others, that the designations could have a devastating impact on Yemenis’ access to basic commodities like food and fuel,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in his official remarks announcing the policy reversal.
“The revocations are intended to ensure that relevant U.S. policies do not impede assistance to those already suffering what has been called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. By focusing on alleviating the humanitarian situation in Yemen, we hope the Yemeni parties can also focus on engaging in dialogue.”
“The United States remains clear-eyed about Ansarallah’s malign actions, and aggression, including taking control of large areas of Yemen by force, attacking U.S. partners in the Gulf, kidnapping and torturing citizens of the United States and many of our allies, diverting humanitarian aid, brutally repressing Yemenis in areas they control, and the deadly attack on December 30, 2020, in Aden against the cabinet of the legitimate government of Yemen,” Blinken added.