Israel Intercepts Houthi Missile That Targeted Its Airbase

The Israeli military says that it intercepted the missile early Saturday morning before it crossed into Israeli territory.

Houthi soldiers stand guard on a missile carrier during an official military parade marking the ninth anniversary of the takeover of the capital, Sanaa, on Sept. 21, 2023. Mohammed Huwais/AFP via Getty Images

Israel successfully intercepted a missile launched at its territory from Yemen, according to a statement by the Israel Defense Forces.

The Israeli military said in a post on social media that it intercepted the missile early Saturday morning before it crossed into Israeli territory. It remains unclear where the missile was when it was shot down.

The Iran-backed Houthi movement in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that the intended target had been the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel.

The group was designated as a foreign terrorist organization on the last day of President Donald Trump’s first term, but that designation was later removed by President Joe Biden. The Trump administration redesignated the Houthis as a terror group in March of this year.

The Houthis are one of several terror groups that form the so-called “axis of resistance,” a loose network of Iran-backed Islamists that also includes Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and several insurgent groups in Iraq and Syria.

Iran denies directly arming the rebels, but Tehran-manufactured weaponry has been found on the battlefield and in sea shipments heading to Yemen for the Houthis in violation of a United Nations arms embargo.

Following Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the Houthis have launched hundreds of attacks against civilian vessels in the Red Sea, a campaign which it claims is in support of Hamas’s war with Israel. The attacks have greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees more than $1 trillion in trade goods move through annually.

The Houthis have vowed in recent weeks to further escalate attacks against maritime shipping and Israel, following a new spate of bombings targeting the group by U.S. forces and a renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza on Hamas.

The attack is the second of its kind in a week.

Houthi terrorists also launched a missile early on Wednesday toward northern Israel, the first such attack by the group to reach the region, though American forces have intercepted missiles directed toward Israel since October of 2023.

In just the last six weeks, the group has successfully shot down at least seven American MQ-9 Reaper Drones, valued at more than $200 million.

The Houthis also targeted a U.S. fighter jet operating in the region with surface-to-air missiles, but failed to hit their target.