Yemen’s Houthi rebels have come out to claim missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, putting their main sponsor, Iran in the mix.
The Houthis, who have held Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, since 2014 claimed three attacks on Israel in a later military statement, but they did not give intricate details.
Earlier this month, the U.S. also shot down projectiles, a suspected attack from the Houthi rebels.
There had been a mysterious explosion Thursday that hit the Egyptian resort town of Taba, near the border with Israel. Egyptian authorities said it wounded six.
″Our armed forces launched a large batch of ballistic missiles and a large number of drones at various targets of the Israeli enemy,” Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a televised statement.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces confirm that this operation is the third operation in support of our oppressed brothers in Palestine and confirm that we will continue to carry out more qualitative strikes with missiles and drones until the Israeli aggression stops.”
The Houthis have a variant of its Burkan ballistic missile, modeled after a type of Iranian missile, believed to be able to reach over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to strike near Eilat, so they probably did it.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, acknowledged the Houthi fire targeting Israel, suggesting the rebels had missiles able to reach some 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles).
“This is something we will continue to monitor,” Ryder said. “We want to prevent a broader regional conflict.”
