Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said on Wednesday they had fired missiles at Israel following Israeli military reports projectiles had been intercepted over the Red Sea.
In recent weeks the Houthis have launched a series of drone and missiles attacks against Israel. They have targeted Israeli-linked commercial shipping and seizing a cargo vessel, in retaliation for the war in Gaza.
In a statement posted on social media, they movement, which rules over swathes of Yemen including its capital Sanaa, said it had “launched a batch of ballistic missiles at military targets” in Israel.
Houthis said they would “continue to carry out their military operations” including targeting what they called “Israeli ships”, in the Red Sea “until the aggression against our brothers in Gaza stops.”
Earlier, the Israeli military said: “The launch of a surface-to-surface missile toward Israeli territory was identified and successfully intercepted in the area of the Red Sea by the Arrow Aerial Defense System”.
“The target did not cross into Israeli territory and sirens sounded according to protocol,” it added without elaborating on the origin of the missile.
On October 7, Hamas militants from Gaza carried out a shock cross-border attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 240 taken hostage, Israeli officials say.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel responded with a relentless military campaign that the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory says has killed 16,248 people, also mostly civilians.
The war has provoked widespread anger in the Middle East and provided an impetus for attacks against American troops in the region as well as on Israel by armed groups opposed to both.
Israel has faced drone and missiles launched from Iran-backed forces in Lebanon as well as Yemen, while American forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted in a series of attacks that have injured dozens of US personnel.
Earlier this week, US Central Command said an American destroyer had shot down multiple drones while assisting commercial ships in the Red Sea that were targeted by attacks from Yemen.
Source: Al Arabiya
