The Israeli military on Sunday announced the failure to intercept a missile fired from Yemen toward the center of the country. This development marks a new escalation in a series of recent ballistic missile attacks from Yemen, reports the Middle East Monitor.
Air raid sirens sounded in large areas, including Tel Aviv, Greater Jerusalem, and several West Bank settlements, causing panic and the suspension of air traffic at Ben Gurion Airport in Lod.
The Israeli Home Front Command stated that the sirens were the result of an attempt to intercept a long-range ballistic missile launched from Yemeni territory amid escalating tensions in the region. In a related development, Israeli media quoted security sources as saying that initial assessments indicate that the American Arrow 3 and THAAD air defence systems failed to intercept the missile before it reached the vicinity of Ben Gurion Airport.
Israeli Army Radio reported that initial assessments indicate that the explosion near Ben Gurion Airport resulted from a direct hit by the missile, rather than shrapnel from an interception attempt.
The radio stated that investigations are still ongoing to determine whether the interception failed or whether the shrapnel from the interception attempt was unusually large.
The Israeli ambulance service reported a number of minor injuries from falling shrapnel in the vicinity of Ben Gurion Airport, following the launch of a missile from Yemen toward central Israel.
It added that ambulance crews rushed to the site and treated the injured on the spot, while security authorities continue to investigate and assess the damage caused by the incident. It’s worth noting that this attack is not the first of its kind. Several ballistic missiles have been launched from Yemen toward Israel, particularly since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023. The Ansar Allah group (Houthis) has repeatedly announced that it has targeted Israeli sites “in response to the aggression against the Palestinian people,” according to their statements.
These developments come at a time of heightened regional tensions and a rise in cross-border threats.
