<\/a>A firefighter extinguishes a blaze after a Yemeni missile hit near Moshav Kfar Daniel, between Modi’in and Ben Gurion Airport<\/p><\/div>\n
Monday, 16 September 2024 | Israeli air defense officials are reviewing the performance of Israel Air Force [IAF] detection and interception capabilities on Sunday, hours after the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen fired a surface-to-surface missile that set off sirens across central Israel.<\/p>\n
According to the Israel Defense Forces [IDF], at 6:21 a.m. on Sunday morning, the missile was launched from Yemen towards Israeli territory, and it likely fragmented mid-air, according to preliminary findings.<\/p>\n
The attack triggered several interception attempts by Israel\u2019s Arrow and Iron Dome defense systems, the IDF said. These attempts, and the effectiveness of the interceptions, are under review. Warning sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol.<\/p>\n
IDF Lt. Col. (res.) Michael Segal, an expert on Iranian strategic issues who is today chief information officer at the Tel Aviv-based Acumen Risk intelligence and risk management consultancy, told JNS<\/em> that in recent years, Yemen has served as Iran\u2019s largest testing ground for various types of weapons.<\/p>\n\u201cDuring the Saudi coalition\u2019s operations in Yemen, following the Houthi takeover of parts of the country during the Arab Spring, the Houthis fired a wide range of missiles, drones and rockets at strategic sites in Saudi Arabia, including oil facilities and airports. Yemen, where active fighting continues in various regions, offers Iran an opportunity to test a variety of weapons, from roadside bombs, sniper rifles and anti-tank weapons to ballistic missiles and drones,\u201d Segal said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese weapons are transferred to the Houthis either as complete systems or in parts and are assembled in Yemen,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
Since early September, the Houthis have downed two American MQ-9 Reaper drones, likely using Iranian 358 surface-to-air missiles, which are also likely in the possession of Hezbollah in Lebanon and pro-Iran militias in Iraq.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s strategy of integrating the Houthis into the \u201caxis of resistance\u201d proved successful after Hamas\u2019s October 7 mass murder attack, when the Houthis joined the campaign in the Red Sea, disrupting Israeli shipping routes and severely damaging Egypt\u2019s revenue from the Suez Canal, Segal noted.<\/p>\n
In August, a Houthi drone expert, Hussein Mastour al-Shabeel, was killed in a US strike on the Kata\u2019ib Hezbollah Shiite militia in Iraq, a reminder that Iran is transferring information via its proxies from one arena to the other, through trainers, he added. This knowledge transfer includes long-range missiles, Segal said, including the past use of Hezbollah trainers in Yemen.<\/p>\n
Underpinning this strategy is a fanatical Iranian religious ideology, expressed recently by the commander of Tehran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, who stated during a ceremony of the Iranian military, \u201cWe have come to prepare the Earth for the reappearance of Imam Mahdi [Islamic Messiah],\u201d according to the Iran Dossier<\/em> website.<\/p>\nThis messianic Shiite Islamist vision has been defined by Iranian officials as the goal of the Islamic Revolution, and used to justify aggression and proxy-building throughout the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\u2018Fight to the Last Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni, Iraqi\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI would argue that Iran\u2019s long-term strategy, similar to its approach in Lebanon, Iraq, Gaza and Judea and Samaria, has successfully encircled Israel and kept it occupied on multiple fronts, all without Iran itself paying any direct price. Iran\u2019s rationale is to push conflicts away from its borders and avoid involvement unless necessary\u2014thus far, Iran has not responded to the assassination of Haniyeh on its soil,\u201d said Segal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn essence, Iran is willing to fight to the last Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni and Iraqi. If Israel and the West seek long-term stability in the region, they must remove Iran from the equation, primarily by posing a direct threat to Iran and its leader, [Ali] Khamenei, personally,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s missile attack led to debris from the interceptors falling in open areas, with fragments landing at the Paatei Modi\u2019in Railway Station, west of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
Additionally, a fire broke out near Moshav Kfar Daniel, with Israel Fire and Rescue Service crews arriving to contain and extinguish the flames.<\/p>\n
The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, claimed responsibility for the attack. According to Israel\u2019s Army Radio<\/em>, Saree said the missile was a hypersonic ballistic projectile capable of reaching a range of 2,040 kilometers [1,268 mi.] in 11.5 minutes. He described the strike as part of the fifth escalation phase in the Houthi campaign against Israel.<\/p>\nA hypersonic missile is usually defined as a weapon capable of traveling at least Mach 5 or faster (five times the speed of sound)\u2014a speed that can be matched by existing ballistic missiles. The difference is in the ability of hypersonic missiles to maneuver within the atmosphere after they re-enter it from space, according to the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.<\/p>\n
No Indication they Reached the Testing Stage<\/strong><\/p>\nUzi Rubi, founder and first director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization in the Defense Ministry, who played a key role in the development of the first Arrow missile defense program, expressed skepticism about claims that Sunday\u2019s missile was hypersonic.<\/p>\n
He noted that while Iran has announced its intentions to develop such weapons, there is no indication that they have reached the testing stage. Rubi, a senior research associate at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, assessed that the missile\u2019s flight time matched that of a conventional ballistic missile.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no doubt that the Iranians provided the Houthis with a version that is a little longer in range than the Qader missiles, which the Houthis have been using to attack Eilat until now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In an analysis published at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in June, Rubi noted that the Ghader missile is a \u201cmore advanced version of the famous Iranian missile, Shahab 3,\u201d which itself is a North Korean design that is manufactured under license in Iran.<\/p>\n
He noted that Iranians have delivered Ghader missiles to \u201ctheir Houthi allies in Yemen,\u201d who used them to target Eilat six to seven times between October 2023 and June 2024. The Ghader\u2019s accuracy is not very high, he said, and it is more suited for targeting population centers than precise facilities.<\/p>\n
The Houthis have fired more than 200 projectiles at Israel since Hamas\u2019s attack on October 7, according to IDF assessments. The Iranian-backed terrorists in Yemen also declared a maritime siege on Israel and parts of the Middle East, and attacked dozens of vessels from around the world, sinking some and disrupting the global economy.<\/p>\n
The IDF is investigating its air defense performance. It declined to comment further on the incident.<\/p>\n
Army Radio<\/em> reported that since the start of the war, the Arrow system has intercepted numerous ballistic missiles, with a near-perfect success rate. This includes previous Houthi-launched ballistic missiles and the Iranian missile barrage on April 14.<\/p>\nOn July 19, the IAF targeted the Houthi-controlled fuel port of Hudeidah in \u201cOperation Long Arm,\u201d which involved fighter jets flying the same distance needed to hit Iran and striking port infrastructure used for terror activity, after which the Houthis vowed retaliation. The IAF attack came a day after the Houthis fired an Iranian-made Samad 3 suicide unmanned aerial vehicle at Tel Aviv, killing a civilian and injuring several others.<\/p>\n
In April, a cruise missile fired from Yemen exploded north of Eilat.<\/p>\n
This latest incident underscores the complex challenges Israel faces as it continues to defend itself against a multi-front war, addressing threats from both regional actors and distant adversaries like the Iran-backed Houthis. With the investigation underway, Israeli officials are reassessing the effectiveness of their missile defense systems in the face of evolving missile threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monday, 16 September 2024 | Israeli air defense officials are reviewing the performance of Israel Air Force [IAF] detection and interception capabilities on Sunday, hours after the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen fired a surface-to-surface missile that set off sirens across central Israel. According to the Israel Defense Forces [IDF], at 6:21 a.m. on Sunday morning,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9632,"featured_media":228796,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\u2018Iran Using Houthis\u2019 Yemen as Weapons \u2018Testing Ground\u2019 - Bridges for Peace<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n