Israel said it had intercepted a ballistic missile fired at it by Houthi militants in Yemen on Tuesday, hours after Israel’s defense minister suggested the Israeli government would seek to kill the Houthi leadership.
Sirens wailed in Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel early on Tuesday morning, and loud booms could be heard as far away as Jerusalem as the country’s aerial defenses sought to repel the attack. The Israeli military later said the missile had been successfully intercepted outside of its territory; there were no reports of casualties.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed group that acts as the de facto government in northern Yemen, have been firing on Israel in solidarity with their Palestinian allies since shortly after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that prompted the war in Gaza. They have also menaced cargo vessels traversing the Red Sea in an attempt to enforce an embargo on Israel, posing a threat to international trade.
The group’s attacks appear to be growing more frequent. Since the beginning of December, Houthi militants have fired rockets and drones at Israel at least eight times. A missile from Yemen landed in Tel Aviv early Saturday morning after air defenses failed to intercept it. And last week, a school in Ramat Gan, a Tel Aviv suburb, was damaged after a missile fired from Yemen was partially intercepted, the Israeli military said. The attacks have not caused any serious injuries.
In response, Israeli warplanes have struck deeper into Yemen, targeting power plants in Sana, the Houthi-run capital.
But it is far from clear what Israel, the United States and their allies could do to decisively stop the Houthis from occasionally shooting rockets and drones at their enemies in the region.
On Monday, Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, threatened to assassinate Houthi leaders in an attempt to force them to come to terms. Throughout the war, Israel has killed many of its adversaries’ top commanders, including the leader of Hamas and the leader of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. Like the Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran.
“We will inflict a devastating blow to the Houthi terrorist organization in Yemen,” said Mr. Katz. “We will hit its strategic infrastructure and behead its leadership.”
For months, Israel and allies like the United States and Britain have bombarded Houthi-held territory in Yemen in an attempt to compel the militants to stop their attacks. But those strikes have not seemed to deter the Houthis, who have vowed to persist as long as Israel continues its war in Gaza.
The Houthis are relatively far removed from their foes — over 1,000 miles away from Israeli territory — and have resisted numerous efforts to quash them since they rose to power in Yemen’s decade-long civil war.
The United States and Britain consider the Houthis to be a terrorist group. As part of its proxy war with Iran, Saudi Arabia led a military campaign against them in Yemen in an attempt to restore the country’s government, deepening the humanitarian crisis there.
The Houthis were once poorly organized rebels, but in recent years, the group has bolstered its arsenal, adding cruise and ballistic missiles and long-range drones. Analysts say Iran has supplied the Houthis and other militias across the Middle East to expand its influence in the region.
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