Yemen’s hypersonic missile strikes central Israel
The Yemeni Armed Forces launched an attack on the south of Tel Aviv on Sunday, targeting for the first time the occupying regime’s military positions with a hypersonic ballistic missile.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the Yemeni army’s spokesman, announced in a brief televised statement that the missile force in the military had carried out a qualitative operation striking a military target of the Israeli enemy in the Jaffa area, southern Tel Aviv, in occupied Palestine.
“The operation was carried out with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that managed to reach its target, and the enemy’s defense systems failed to intercept and confront it,” Saree said.
“It crossed a distance of 2040 km in 11 and a half minutes, and caused a state of fear and panic among the Zionists, as more than two million Zionists headed to shelters for the first time in the history of the Israeli enemy.”
The spokesman said the operation was part of the fifth phase of the battle against the Israeli enemy, and successfully reached its target by overcoming all obstacles, including American and Israeli interception systems on land and sea.
“The Israeli enemy should expect more strikes and specific operations to come as we approach the first anniversary of the blessed October 7th Operation, including responding to its criminal aggression on the city of Hudaydah, and continuous supportive operations for the oppressed Palestinian people.”
Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.
The Yemeni Armed Forces have said that they won’t stop their attacks until Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza end.
Hamas commends Yemeni attack
A senior Hamas official praised the Sunday missile attack, saying that the attack showed the limits of Israel’s ability to defend itself.
“It is a message to the entire region that Israel is not an immune entity,” Osama Hamdan told AFP during an interview in Istanbul.
“Even Israeli capabilities have limits, and the possibility of developing resistance action against the Zionist entity is a serious and real possibility, not a fantasy.”
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Yemenis will pay a “heavy price.”
AFP photographers saw firefighters putting out a bush fire near Lod and shards of broken glass at a train station in Modin, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub, after the attack.
In July, Yemen launched a drone strike that penetrated Israel’s intricate air defenses and killed a civilian in Tel Aviv, at least 1,800 kilometers from Yemen.
In an initial statement on Sunday, Israel’s military claimed that the latest missile “fell in an open area” in the vicinity of Tel Aviv.
A subsequent statement said an initial inquiry indicates the missile fired from Yemen probably fragmented in mid-air.
“Several interception attempts were made by the Arrow and Iron Dome Aerial Defense Systems, and their results are under review,” a military statement said.
Sirens sounded, the military said, leading to what local media described as a scramble for shelter in the greater Tel Aviv area.
A paramedic service said several people were slightly injured while “on their way to shelters.”
Since November, Yemen’s Armed Forces have also been targeting Israeli-bound ships in the Red Sea in support of Palestinian resistance groups in the Gaza Strip.