‘Israel’ reveals Houthis used missile with new warhead in latest attack

Defence affairs - Def-Geopolitics

An ‘Israeli’ Air Force probe has concluded that the Yemen’s Houthis fired a ballistic missile with a cluster bomb warhead for the first time in their attack on ‘Israel’ on Friday.

The missile was launched just before 9 PM on Friday, activating air raid sirens across central ‘Israel’.

The Houthis say they successfully hit Ben Gurion Airport with a "Palestine 2" hypersonic missile, an ‘Israeli’ military investigation found that the projectile "likely broke apart in the air".

A munition from the cluster warhead struck the yard of a home in the town of Ginaton, shattering windows but causing no injuries.

This use of a cluster warhead by the Houthis directly mirrors tactics employed by their main patron, Iran, which used similar weapons against ‘Israel’ during a June conflict.

‘Israel's’ vaunted multi-layered air defense systems, including Arrow, David's Sling, and Iron Dome, failed to intercept the missile.

Defense experts note that a fragmented payload with dozens of submunitions complicates interception, as it can overwhelm a system's ability to track and engage all targets.

The ‘Israeli’ military says the failure to intercept is unrelated to the type of warhead the missile was carrying. It added that it will further investigate the incident.

Iran launched ballistic missiles with cluster bomb warheads at ‘Israel’ at least twice during the 12-day war in June.

Since 2014, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force has supplied the Houthis with a growing arsenal of advanced weapons, including ballistic missile components and drones.