Early Wednesday morning, the Houthis fired cluster munitions at Central Israel.
By Rachel Avraham
At 9:39am, the bomb sirens were sounded in Netanya, Airport City, Bat Yam, Bnei Brak, Givatayim, Herzliya, Hod HaSharon, Holon, Kfar Chabad, Kfar Saba, Lod, Latrun, Modiin, Ramat Gan, Ra’anana, Ramla, Rehovot, Rishon LeTzion, Tel Aviv, Jaffa and other areas across Central Israel.
“Following the sirens that sounded a short while ago in several areas in Israel, a missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted,” the IDF later reported. “Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol.”
There have been no reports of injuries, Arutz Sheva reported. According to the report, airspace at Ben Gurion Airport was temporarily closed, forcing a Delta flight from New York to circle until the airspace was reopened. Large booms were heard following the interception, the Jerusalem Post reported.
On Wednesday morning, the Houthi terrorists in Yemen launched a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with cluster bomb munitions to target Israel, the IDF stated on Wednesday evening, the Jerusalem Post reported. In its statement, the IDF urged the public to follow the instructions of the Home Front Command and to be responsible and vigilant in the presence of unexploded remnants and unidentified objects, to distance from the area, and to immediately report to the Israel Police, Arutz Sheva reported.
A similar incident was recorded on August 24, when an Israeli Air Force investigation determined the Houthis had, for the first time, used a ballistic missile with a cluster bomb warhead, the Times of Israel reported. According to the report, in that attack, one of the munitions struck the yard of a home in the central community of Ginaton, causing light damage. The military said the failure to intercept that missile was unrelated to the type of warhead it carried, the Times of Israel added.
At 7:16pm, the Houthis fired another missile at Israel. The bomb sirens were sounded in Arad, Beitar Illit, the Dead Sea, Efrat, Ein Geddi, Gush Etzion, Hebron, Kfar Etzion, Kiryat Arba and other areas south of Jerusalem.
A short time later, the IDF announced that “a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted by the IAF. Sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol.” Magen David Adom (MDA) reported that “at this stage, no calls have been received at MDA’s 101 hotline regarding rocket impacts or casualties.” However, it is not believed that the second missile contained cluster munitions.
Army Radio reporter Doron Kadosh noted that this was the first time that the Houthis managed to fire a missile that triggered sirens in Israel after the IDF killed top Houthi leaders in Sanaa last week, the Jerusalem Post reported. Since last week, the Houthis have launched four ballistic missiles and two drones that fell or were intercepted outside of Israeli territory, with the recent launch being the fifth missile since Israel’s attack on Sanaa, Army Radio added.
