Houthi Cruise Missile Penetrates Israeli Air Defenses for First Time

Jerusalem, 20 March, 2024 (TPS) -- The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that for the first time, a cruise missile fired by Houthi terrorists in Yemen penetrated Israeli air space, crashing harmlessly in an open area near the port city of Eilat on Tuesday night.

The IDF said the Air Force tracked the missile.

The Iran-backed Houthis have launched numerous missiles and drones at Israel since October 19, but all have been intercepted by Israeli air defense systems or US naval forces in the Red Sea, or failed to reach Israeli airspace.

On Nov. 9, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Eilat, which was intercepted by Israel’s Arrow 3 hypersonic anti-ballistic missile, the first time the system was used operationally. The intercept is widely believed to be the first time a missile was shot down outside of Earth’s atmosphere.

The Houthis vowed in December to target any Israel-bound ship in the Red Sea, regardless of its ownership.

From bases along the Yemeni coast, the Houthis have attacked and harassed ships in the Red Sea as they traverse the Bab el-Mandeb Straits, a narrow maritime choke point between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa. The majority of the world’s oil passes through the strait from the Indian Ocean towards the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.

The attacks have forced some major shipping companies to reroute around Africa, interrupting a crucial global trade route connecting Asia and the Middle East to Europe.

Also on Tuesday, the US military’s Central Command (Centcom) said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that naval forces in the Red Sea “successfully engaged and destroyed seven anti-ship missiles, three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and three weapons storage containers in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in self-defense.”

Centcom added that “these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region.”