Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Wednesday claimed responsibility for missile and drone attacks on Israel, where the military earlier said it had intercepted a “missile” fired from Yemen and shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle in an empty field.

“A hypersonic ballistic missile ‘Palestine 2’ hit its target successfully,” assured the Houthi spokesman for military affairs, Yahya Sharia, clarifying that the rebels targeted a “military” facility in Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv (center). .

Later, the Houthis announced that they had conducted “two operations” with drones against Tel Aviv and Ashkelon (south).

The Israeli military said a drone crashed “in an empty field”, while sirens were activated in areas near the Gaza Strip, in the southern part of the Israeli territory.

He also announced that he “intercepted” a rocket that had been launched “from Yemen”, before it – according to him – entered “Israeli territory”.

As a precaution, for the possibility of falling debris, air defense sirens were activated “in various sectors of central Israel”, according to the same source.

The day before Tuesday, the Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for launching a “Palestine 2 hypersonic ballistic missile” against a military target in central Israel. The Israeli army assured that it intercepted him.

Since the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on southern sectors of Israeli territory, the Houthis have launched dozens of attacks against Israel, whose army has repeatedly retaliated. . The Yemeni rebel movement insists it is taking these actions in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

The armed movement, which controls most of northern Yemen, has also since November 2023 continued to launch frequent attacks against ships it says is linked to Israel, the US and Britain in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, despite the US military, sometimes with British input, launches attacks against rebel positions, facilities and weapons systems in the Yemeni ground since January.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from the floor of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, that he had ordered his army to “destroy the infrastructure” of the Houthis after a rocket was fired that slightly injured 16 people Friday night into Saturday in Tel Aviv. “I asked our armed forces to destroy the Houthi infrastructure because whoever tries to attack us will be hit hard,” he said.