Jerusalem, Dec 17 (IANS) Forces in Yemen launched a missile toward central Israel, triggering sirens in Tel Aviv and other cities, Israel’s military said.
Israel’s air defence systems intercepted the missile, and “sirens sounded due to the possibility of falling shrapnel from the interception,” the military said on Monday in a statement.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said no injuries have been reported.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Since November last year, the Houthi group, which controls much of northern Yemen, has been conducting missile and drone attacks on targets in Israel, allegedly to show solidarity with Palestinians amid their conflict with Israelis in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Monday, Israel’s military reported intercepting a drone and a missile launched from Yemen.
Although the missile was intercepted, Israeli emergency services confirmed that five people were injured while seeking shelter in Tel Aviv and other central areas of the country.
Since the beginning of 2024, a coalition led by the US has been conducting air strikes that it said are targeting Houthi locations in parts of Yemen in response to attacks by the group in the Red Sea. The counter-attacks have been occasionally met with retaliation from the group.
In solidarity with Gaza, which has been facing an Israeli war since October 7, 2023, the Houthis have targeted Israeli cargo ships or those associated with Tel Aviv in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, expressing determination to continue operations until the end of the onslaught on the enclave.
With the intervention of Washington and London and an escalation of tensions, the Houthis announced that they now consider all American and British ships as military targets.
On December 9, a drone claimed by Houthis exploded on the top floor of a residential building in the central Israel city of Yavne, causing no casualties.
In July, a Houthi drone attack in Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting retaliatory strikes on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen’s population centres, have also frequently targeted ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
–IANS
int/khz
