Israel responded Sunday with airstrikes on Sanaa after Houthis launched their first cluster missile at the country, as an initial Israeli Air Force investigation confirmed the projectile featured a splitting warhead and clarified that a missed interception was unrelated to the missile type.
After several reports arrived in the last hour on Sunday that Israel was preparing for a strike in Yemen, the country reported an Israeli attack on the capital, Sanaa. Arab media reported IDF strikes in the capital, and the Lebanese network Al Mayadeen, affiliated with Hezbollah, reported three aerial attacks. The American news agency Reuters reported that some of the strikes targeted missile bases, as well as a fuel depot near the presidential compound.
Video: IDF strikes targets in Sanaa, Yemen. Credit: Arab media
Initial findings from the Israeli Air Force investigation following the firing from Yemen last Friday indicate, after a preliminary probe, that it was likely a missile with a splitting warhead. IDF officials said, "This is the first time the Houthis have launched a missile of this type into our territory." At the same time, the IDF spokesperson clarified that "the missed interception last Friday is being investigated and is not related to the type of missile launched."
The missile was launched on Friday from Yemen toward Israeli territory. Defense systems operated to intercept the Houthi threat, and the IDF reported that an initial check showed that "the missile likely disintegrated in the air."
As a result of the missile launch, alerts were activated in the center of the country and in Jerusalem, and millions rushed to protected spaces. A fragment from an interception shard fell in Moshav Ginaton near Lod and caused a crater in the ground and damage to a private home. Forces were dispatched to the scene, and there were no casualties.
A short time after the missile launch, senior Houthi official Nasr al-Din Amer published a video showing the moment the missile "disintegrated." He wrote on social networks, "This is the moment the Yemeni missile disintegrated into several missiles in the skies of Israel."
