Israel’s Southern Airport Hit By Drone Launched By Houthis in Yemen

Tel Aviv, Israel: A drone launched from Yemen by the Houthi militant group hit Israel’s southern airport, closing the airspace over southern Israel and halting flights, the Israeli military said Sunday.

Israel said the Houthis launched multiple drones, some of which were intercepted outside of Israel. At least one hit the passenger hall of the Ramon International Airport near the southern Israeli city of Eilat, according to the Israel Airports Authority.

In May, a Houthi missile hit near Israel’s main airport, injuring four people lightly and causing many airlines to cancel their flights to Israel for months. Israel later struck and destroyed the main airport in the rebel-held Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

One person was lightly injured at the airport from shrapnel as a result of the drone, according to Israel's rescue services Magen David Adom.

Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, hailed the attack on social media, calling it “a unique, qualitative military operation.”

“Enemy airports are unsafe, and foreigners must leave them for their own safety,” he wrote. “Other sensitive targets are under fire.”

Sunday’s attack came two weeks after an Israeli strike on Sanaa, the rebel-held capital of Yemen, killed the prime minister of the Houthi government, along with many of his cabinet. Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi was the most senior Houthi official killed in the Israeli-U.S. campaign against the Iranian-backed rebels.

Following al-Rahawi’s killing, the rebels vowed to escalate their attacks against Israel as well as on vessels navigating through a crucial Red Sea shipping route off Yemen.

In their recent attacks, the rebels launched projectiles daily, in some cases multiple times per day, and also began using cluster munitions in the missile attacks on Israel. Cluster munitions open up with smaller explosives that can be harder to intercept, raising the chances of getting through Israel's air defense system.

The Ramon Airport opened in 2019 and is located some 19 kilometers (12 miles) from the resort city of Eilat on Israel's southern tip. It serves both domestic and international flights but is much smaller than Israel's main airport, Ben Gurion Airport, in central Israel.