Yemeni missiles strike Israel - again by Vanessa Sevidova!
(2025-01-01 at 00:46:59 )

Yemeni missiles strike Israel - again by Vanessa Sevidova!

On December 21, a Yemeni missile hit the Tel Aviv-Yafa area, Israels commercial hub, causing significant damage and injuring tens of people. The attack was claimed by the Houthis, which confirmed that they had struck a military target.

Yemeni missiles strike Israel

Unwavering Yemeni support of the Palestinian people

This strike was carried out with a hypersonic ballistic missile labelled "Palestine 2". Even though sirens sounded in over 200 locations between Tel Aviv and northern Ashdod, the missile swiftly evaded both the Iron Dome and Davids Sling interceptor missiles and two million Israeli settlers ran to seek bomb shelters in the middle of the night.

The use of a hypersonic ballistic missile is a serious escalation, as they, of course, fly at faster speeds than normal rockets and are very difficult to intercept, producing a considerable security threat to Israel.

Our operations will not cease until the aggression on Gaza stops and the blockade in Gaza is lifted

This came two days after heavy Israeli bombardments of Yemen. The aggressive raids targeted two power stations in the north and south of the capital, Sanaa, as well as the port of al-Salif and the Ras Isa oil facility, both of which are located in the Hodeidah province.

The Yemeni government, led by Ansar Allah, promised to ramp up its attacks on Israel in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in response to the Israeli genocide against them. Brigadier General Yahya Saree, spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces, clarified that the attack was part of the fifth phase of support within the framework of the "Promised Conquest" battle. "Our operations will not cease until the aggression on Gaza stops and the blockade in Gaza is lifted", they promised.

The Israeli army confirmed the situation and launched an investigation into why they failed to intercept the missile. According to a reporter from the Israeli Army Radio, preliminary investigations show that several air defence systems were employed in an attempt to halt the attack. First an Arrow intercept missile was deployed, following which the Iron Dome was activated, but to no avail. This is not the first time these systems have failed to intercept ballistic missiles; it failed four times in a row with three Yemeni and one Lebanese missile.

United States response

Hours after the Yemeni attack, the United States launched fresh attacks on the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. According to reports, there was a large explosion in Sanaa, as well as war aircraft in the skies above. The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) claimed to have hit a missile storage site and a "command-and-control facility". CENTCOM also states that several Yemeni drones and an anti-ship cruise missile were intercepted over the Red Sea. Israel was quick to announce that it had no relation to this attack, perhaps in an attempt to avoid new, similar strikes.

United States and British forces have regularly been striking Yemen throughout the year in response to Yemeni attacks on United States, British and Israeli ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden area.

There have also been Yemeni attacks on Eilat, a port city on the Red Sea, and Tel Aviv, striking deep into Israeli territory. On February 25, for example, the United States and United Kingdom launched six attacks on the Attan district of the Sanaa Governorate. Four airstrikes on the same area were witnessed about a month later as well, on March 22.

Amid the recent exchanges of strikes, a United States F-A-18 was shot down on December 22 over the Red Sea. According to CENTCOM, it was mistakenly downed by one of the escort ships of the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, however Yemeni officials have pointed to a different version of events.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, stated that "the United States CENTCOM will not disclose the truth about the downing of the American war plane". He also supposed that such a reaction was probably aimed at preventing the further collapse of the morale of United States soldiers

Axis of Resistance vs Abraham Accords

During a recent speech in the Knesset, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel had made "great achievements" on numerous fronts and that Hamas has softened their previous demands due to Israeli military pressure. He also said that Israel has "solidified its stance as a regional power" and that, together with its United States ally, Israel intends to expand the Abraham Accords. The Abraham Accords are bilateral agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan on the normalisation of diplomatic relations, signed in 2020 and 2021 under Trump. As part of the Accords, the Arab states recognise Israeli sovereignty.

Netanyahu stated that the war in Gaza presents new opportunities for Arab countries to review their policy vis-a-vis Israel in the face of an "even larger Iranian threat" and to "dramatically change the face of the Middle East". He believes that moderate Arab countries see Israel as a regional power and potential ally - something he would like to exploit.

In a commentary to the Jerusalem Post posted on November 13, Karen Amouyal wrote that the idea of "Abraham Accords 2.0" was not far-fetched, as the UAE, for example, has publicly expressed that it will not cut ties with Israel, instead using its influence to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. With the anticipation of Trumps second term, being the one to have facilitated the Abraham Accords in the first place, Amouyal expects him to push this initiative forth.

With the recent overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, a key link in the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance has fallen. This puts increased pressure on Iran, first and foremost, as well as other players part of the Axis, for example Yemen.

Vanessa Sevidova, researcher-expert on the Middle East and Africa

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