Failure to intercept Houthi missile exposes Israel’s vulnerabilities and limits of US campaign

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - JERUSALEM — A failed interception of a missile fired from Yemen forced Israel to briefly shut down its main international airport on Sunday, exposing the country’s vulnerabilities and the Houthi rebels’ continued ability to strike distant targets despite a sustained US military campaign.

Flights were halted at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv for about 30 minutes on Sunday morning after a missile landed in the airport’s vicinity, following what the Israeli military said were “several attempts” at interception. “The results of the interception are under review,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

The military fired its long-range Arrow interceptor at the incoming missile, an IDF spokesperson said. The US also has an advanced THAAD anti-missile system deployed in Israel.

The Houthi rebel group in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out “in rejection of (Israel’s) crime of genocide” against the people of Gaza.

The group later warned it could strike again and would “impose a comprehensive air blockade” on Israel by “repeatedly targeting airports,” especially Ben Gurion. It called on international airlines to plan accordingly and cancel all scheduled flights to Israeli airports.

The strike appears to be the first time Israel’s international airport has been successfully targeted by the group.

“The American and Israeli defense systems failed to intercept the missile aimed at Ben Gurion Airport,” Yahya Saree, the group’s spokesperson, said in a statement, adding that the airport was targeted with a “hypersonic ballistic missile.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed further attacks against the Houthis.

“We acted before, we will act in the future too. I can’t elaborate all of that. The US, in coordination with us, is also operating against them. It’s not ‘one and done’ — but there will be hits,” he said in a video address posted on social media.

In a post to X later, he also promised a response to Iran: “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”

Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that the response would be “sevenfold.”

Iran’s defense minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said Iran would respond to any attack on it. State-affiliated Mehr News quoted him as saying, “if we are attacked or a war is imposed on us, we will respond with might.”

“We will attack their interests and their bases, and we will not be reluctant and will not see any limits in this regard,” Nasirzadeh told Iranian TV, according to Mehr. “We are not enemies of our neighboring countries, and they are our brothers, but American bases on their soil will be our targets.”

Israel’s security cabinet convened on Sunday afternoon to discuss the incident, according to an Israeli official.

The incident marks a major security breach at one of the most heavily protected sites in the country, and is likely to raise questions about Israel’s ability to intercept such attacks despite its vaunted missile defense system.

An initial IDF inquiry found no malfunction with any systems or procedures, but a “technical issue” with the interceptor itself, that was launched toward the Houthi missile, the military said.

Trains to and from the airport were also halted and police asked the public to refrain from arriving in the area.

Pictures from the scene showed debris from the impact of the missile on the grounds of the airport, littering the road toward the main terminal. A video shared on social media appeared to show the impact of the missile at the airport and a cloud of black smoke rising from the strike.

Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings suspend flights to and from Tel Aviv until after Tuesday, May 6, a Lufthansa Group spokesperson told CNN.

Amir Bar Shalom, the military affairs analyst for Israel’s Army Radio, said the missile showed both tremendous accuracy and the ability to penetrate Israel’s air defenses.

“They were very accurate, and to be very accurate if you’re launching from 2,000 kilometers, it’s impressive,” Bar Shalom told CNN. “And you have to take this threat seriously. We have to check whether it’s our mistake or whether we have a new kind of threat here.”

Iran is developing long-range missiles capable of maneuvering to evade air defenses, Bar Shalom said, though it remains unclear whether such advanced technology has been transferred to the Houthis. He added that the military will analyze all of the aspects of the failed interception attempts, including when sensors detected the incoming projectile, which systems identified it, and how close interceptors came to the missile.

“There are so many parameters that may be relevant to the result that have to be analyzed,” he said.

Hamas praised the attack, calling Yemen “the twin of Palestine, as it continues to defy the most brutal forces of oppression, refusing submission or defeat despite the aggression it faces.”

Sunday’s strike marks the third consecutive day of missile launches from Yemen toward Israel, according to the IDF.

Since Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza started in October 2023, the country has come under fire from missiles and rockets from Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, who claim to strike Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians. Almost all of the projectiles have been intercepted by Israel’s air defenses.

But in December, a Houthi missile hit Israel’s commercial capital Tel Aviv after a failed interception, leading to more than a dozen injuries. The Houthis said they fired a hypersonic ballistic missile labeled “Palestine 2” at an Israeli military target in the Jaffa area. And in July, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a deadly drone attack in Tel Aviv – the first such strike on the city by the group.

Israel has launched several strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, including the targeting of a power plant and maritime ports in January.

But the US military has carried out far more extensive strikes on targets in Yemen in recent weeks, aiming to weaken the group, whose attacks on Red Sea shipping have significantly disrupted global trade.

The campaign is also aimed at stopping launches targeting Israel, as well as commercial and US Navy vessels operating in the Middle East. Early last month, the cost of US the effort had approached $1 billion in just three weeks, including the deployment of B-2 stealth bombers and the use of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of high-end munitions.

But it has largely failed to disrupt the Houthis’ ability to launch ballistic missiles against Israel. The country’s vaunted missile defense system routinely intercepts the launches, but some have gotten through. — CNN