Daijiworld Media Network - Sanaa
Sanaa, Apr 26: Yemen's Houthi group on Saturday claimed responsibility for a missile attack that reportedly triggered sirens across southern Israel earlier in the day. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea announced in a televised statement on Houthi-run al-Masirah TV that the group targeted Israel's Nevatim Air Base in the Negev region using a hypersonic ballistic missile, which he claimed successfully reached its intended target.
Sarea said the attack was carried out in response to the ongoing Israeli offensive in Gaza, vowing that the Houthis would continue launching strikes until Israeli operations against Gaza end and the blockade on the enclave is lifted.
Earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that a missile fired from Yemen had been intercepted. Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service reported no casualties from the incident.
Under a recently updated procedure, the IDF's Home Front Command initially issued an early warning via its mobile app to residents in large areas of southern and central Israel, including the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and occupied Jerusalem. However, three minutes later, sirens were only sounded in the north of the Negev desert, prompting hundreds of thousands of people to seek shelter.
The IDF clarified that the missile was intercepted before it could enter Israeli territory. Later in the morning, the IDF reported intercepting a drone launched from the east before it reached Israeli airspace, with no sirens activated for the latter incident, according to Xinhua news agency.
Since November 2023, the Houthi group, which controls much of northern Yemen, has been targeting Israeli sites in solidarity with Palestinians amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Meanwhile, on April 25, the Houthis accused US forces of conducting approximately 1,200 air raids on Yemen since mid-March, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties and widespread infrastructure damage. In a press statement, the Houthi-controlled foreign affairs authority alleged that US operations had destroyed numerous civilian facilities, including residential neighborhoods, ports, health facilities, water tanks, and archaeological sites, in violation of international law and humanitarian norms.