The IDF said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen toward Israel early Thursday, the latest in a series of cross-border attacks claimed by the country’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The military said the launch was detected at 4:07 a.m. and that air defense systems were activated to intercept the threat. The public was urged to follow Home Front Command safety guidelines. Residents in central Israel reported hearing explosions, though no sirens sounded in line with IDF protocol.
About 20 minutes after the initial alert, the military said the missile had been successfully intercepted by the Israeli Air Force. “No sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol,” the IDF said.
Unlike in similar incidents in recent months, the Home Front Command did not issue a preemptive notice listing communities where alarms could be heard following the initial detection. Residents reported hearing blasts in central Israel and Jerusalem.
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On Tuesday afternoon, the Air Force intercepted an unmanned aerial vehicle launched from Yemen. A week earlier, two drones launched by the Houthis were downed within an hour of each other overnight. No sirens were sounded in those cases either.
The last missile launch from Yemen before Thursday’s attack occurred more than a week earlier, when alarms were triggered in communities near Jerusalem and the Shephelah region. The IDF later confirmed the missile had been intercepted. Two days earlier, a drone from Yemen was intercepted near Israel’s border with Egypt. On Aug. 1, a Houthi-fired ballistic missile was downed after triggering widespread alarms in the early evening.
The Houthis have continued launching projectiles toward Israel despite repeated IDF strikes on their positions in Yemen. As part of Operation Long Braid on July 21, Israeli forces struck infrastructure at the Houthis’ main port, targeting fuel tanks, vessels used for military operations and engineering equipment the group was using to rebuild damaged facilities.