Ballistic missile fired from Yemen triggers sirens across central Israel

A surface-to-surface ballistic missile was fired at Israel from Yemen on Sunday morning, the third time the Iran-backed Houthis apparently successfully penetrated Israeli air defenses.

The missile caused the activation of sirens across central Israel at around 6:30 a.m., with alerts heard from the east of Tel Aviv to Modiin.

There were reports that the missile impacted an open area in the Ben Shemen forest, sparking a fire near Kfar Daniel, a few kilometers southeast of Ben Gurion Airport.

Shrapnel damage was reported at a train station on the outskirts of Modiin, some 25 kilometers (18 miles) east of Tel Aviv.

The IDF initially reported that the missile struck an open area, but later said that it was also investigating the results of interceptor missiles launched at the projectile.

Videos and pictures posted online showed trails in the sky.

A military probe was set to ascertain why the missile was not intercepted before it reached Israeli airspace, or whether it was in fact intercepted — either fully or partially.

Houthi official Nasr al-Din Amer said that the attack showed Israel was completely exposed to aerial assault.

“The [Israeli] defense systems failed and the Yemeni missile arrived thanks to Allah. The depths of the enemy are now completely exposed to us. In the past it was UAVs and now the missiles, and all arrived without interception. The future holds many things,” he said, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

A second senior Houthi official posted on X in Hebrew saying the group’s leader will deliver an address later on Sunday.

“Whether in your underground shelters or outside of them, it would behoove you to listen with close attention this afternoon to what is said by” Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, wrote Hezam al-Asad, a member of the Iran-backed group’s politburo, above a picture of their leader.

Yemen’s Houthis have fired ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones at Israel over the past 11 months — mostly toward the southernmost city of Eilat — saying that it is in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is battling Hamas.

The vast majority of the Iran-backed Yemeni group’s projectiles have been intercepted by US forces stationed in the Red Sea and Israeli air defenses and fighter jets, or have missed their target.

However, the IDF has long warned that Israel’s air defenses are not “hermetic.”