The IDF on Tuesday night shot down a ballistic missile fired by the Yemeni Houthis on central and southern Israel.
The military said it shot down that missile beyond Israel's borders, but that due to the speed and explosive power of such missiles it was necessary to activate warning sirens throughout portions of central and southern Israel.
Despite multiple days of US air strikes on the Houthis, they still managed to fire off a missile against the Jewish state, the first since the ceasefire with Hamas went into effect on January 19.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree stated that the terror group launched a “Palestine 2” hypersonic ballistic missile that targeted the IDF’s Nevatim Air Base, which is located approximately 15 km. east of Beersheba.
Generally speaking, Israeli missile experts say that the Houthis do possess different kinds of ballistic missiles but not actually hypersonic ones, though they like to exaggerate their capabilities.
IDF sources said that absent the American attacks on the Houthis in recent days, the Yemeni terror group might have fired even earlier on Israel and with a larger volume of attacks.
Throughout the war, the Houthis fired on Israel over 400 times.
US strikes on Houthis
In turn, from July 2024 until the ceasefire in January, Jerusalem counterattacked Yemen five times, while the Biden administration also launched a series of restrained attacks on the Houthis.
There are hopes that the more aggressive attacks by the Trump administration on the Houthis, including their leaders for the first time, might finally reduce their interventions and attacks beyond their borders.