Tel Aviv, Israel: Yemen’s Houthis claim responsibility for drone attack near US embassy branch office

CNN
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Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility Friday for a deadly drone attack in Tel Aviv, The latest attack by the Iranian-affiliated group, which it says is in response to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

The explosion, which took place in a central area housing several diplomatic missions, including a branch of the U.S. Embassy, ​​killed a 50-year-old man and wounded at least 10 others, Israeli emergency and police officials said.

Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the “major military operation” was successfully carried out with a new drone capable of “bypassing enemy interception systems.”

“We will continue to bombard these targets in response to the enemy’s massacres and daily crimes against our brothers in the Gaza Strip,” Saree added, stressing that “our operations will not stop until the aggression stops and the siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is lifted.”

It was the first time Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub, had been hit by a drone in an attack claimed by the Houthis. The Yemeni rebels have regularly targeted Israel with drones and rockets since the country’s war with Hamas began, with most of the missiles intercepted by Israeli defenses.

In a televised briefing on Friday, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari said the military suspected the drone was an Iranian-made Sammad 3, launched from Yemen, which had been upgraded to extend its range.

He added that another drone was intercepted outside Israeli territory to the east at the same time as the attack, adding that Israel is now working to develop its air defenses and increase air patrols on its borders.

An Israeli military official said the drone was detected by Israel’s air defense system but was not intercepted due to “human error.” The official said the drone was armed with a warhead and fell on a residential building, without providing further details about the device’s payload.

The official did not provide details about the nature of the human error, but noted that Israeli air defense systems do not always operate independently.

For example, the Iron Dome defense system can operate in manual mode, where the radar detects and tracks incoming threats, but requires input from the operator before launching an interceptor missile.

The official said the military does not believe there are any other imminent threats.

The IDF said earlier that “according to the initial investigation, no sirens were activated” during the incident.

The explosion occurred about 100 meters (330 feet) from the US embassy branch compound, according to a CNN analysis of open-source satellite imagery of the scene.

The US State Department said there was no damage to the US diplomatic mission and no US or “local employees” were reported injured.

“We are in close contact with Israeli authorities to fully investigate the source and intended target of the explosion,” the spokesman said, adding that the embassy in Jerusalem and its branch in Tel Aviv stand ready to provide consular assistance to US citizens.

The Israeli emergency service, Magen David Adom, said emergency crews responded to an “object” that exploded on Shalom Aleichem Street.

The dead man suffered penetrating wounds, said Roy Klein, a paramedic with the American Self Defense Association. At least four of the wounded suffered shrapnel wounds, the association added.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and opposition leader Yair Lapid have criticized the Israeli government for its inability to protect the country.

Lapid said on social media that the attack showed that the government “cannot provide security for the citizens of Israel.”

“There are no policies, no plans, and all the public relations and discussions revolve around themselves,” he said.

Ben-Gvir said the attack on Tel Aviv and other areas in Israel is “the exact reason why I insist on being around the table to determine Israel’s policy.”

Last June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the country’s war cabinet after former war cabinet member Benny Gantz announced his withdrawal from the council, and Ben-Gvir asked to join it.

The Houthi group has been launching attacks on US targets and commercial ships in the Red Sea since Israel launched its invasion of Gaza following a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 others.

Israel Air and ground attack The latest Israeli war on Gaza killed more than 38,000 people in the territory, according to Palestinian authorities. The war displaced almost all of the Strip’s more than two million residents, reduced vast swaths of the territory to rubble, and sparked a massive humanitarian crisis.

The war has also raised fears of a wider regional conflict, with potential consequences of further humanitarian suffering and shocks to the global economy. For example, Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have forced some of the world’s largest shipping and oil companies to suspend traffic through one of the world’s key waterways. The most important maritime trade routes.

Houthi spokesman Saree said the operation targeting Tel Aviv was carried out with a new drone called “Yaffa” that can “bypass the enemy’s interception system and (operates) with advanced technologies.” Undetectable by radar“.”

Fabian Hinz, Research Fellow in Defence and Military Analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, Written on X The Houthis’ claims should not be taken seriously.

“In general, the Houthis’ claims are a mix of claims. Sometimes they are accurate, sometimes they are exaggerated, and sometimes they are just fabrications,” he wrote, adding that “their factual claims should be taken with much more caution than those of Iran or Lebanese Hezbollah.”

He said the drone used in the Tel Aviv attack was likely a Sammad, a “long-range Houthi drone” that has already been used in attacks against Israel, but with a more powerful engine.

For the Houthis, he wrote, extending the range of drones would be attractive “because it would allow them to strike farther targets, fly trajectories that avoid enemy defenses, and attack from unexpected angles.”

Friday’s drone attack in Tel Aviv comes after the Houthis earlier this month claimed to have targeted ships in the Israeli port of Haifa with a number of drones in joint military operations with Iran-backed militias based in Iraq.

The Israeli military told CNN at the time that it was not aware of such an incident.

This story has been updated with additional developments.