Israel probes failure to intercept Yemení ballistic missile after latest attack

December 21, 2024   

Israel's military is having difficulty defending its cities from missiles fired by the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF), Israel media reported on 21 December, after a Yemeni missile exploded in a public park in south Tel Aviv overnight Friday.

The Times of Israel writes that "The missile launch caused sirens to sound throughout central Israel at 3:44 a.m., sending millions rushing to shelters from their beds."

Videos on social media showed the moment of impact and the failed interceptions.

Medics said 16 people were lightly injured by shattered glass from the strike. Footage from the park showed a crater where the missile had impacted.

YAF spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced Saturday that its forces had launched a Palestine 2 hypersonic missile.

Brigadier General Saree confirmed that the missile hit its target accurately and that Israel's missile defense systems failed to intercept it.

The attack came "within the framework of responding to the Israeli aggression on Yemen, and in victory for the injustice of the Palestinian people and their mujahideen, and in response to the massacres against civilians in Gaza," Saree stated.

On Thursday, another YAF ballistic missile evaded Israel's missile defense and struck a building in Ramat Efal.

Yedioth Ahronoth wrote that Israel's military has failed to intercept the Yemeni missile for two possible reasons.

The first possibility is that the missile was launched in a flat ballistic trajectory from an unexpected direction.

As a result, Israeli or US detection systems in Saudi Arabia may not have identified it in time to shoot it down.

The second possibility is that the Iranians have developed maneuvering warheads, which separate from the missile during the final third of their trajectory. The warheads then change direction and course before striking their target.

Because the warheads of ballistic missiles are hypersonic, traveling at five times the speed of sound while maneuvering in different directions, they are very difficult for air defense systems to shoot down.

Yedioth Ahronoth notes that "The threat posed by maneuvering warheads on Iran's heavy, long-range missiles would become existential for Israel should Iran succeed in developing nuclear warheads for these missiles."

"A single nuclear-maneuvering warhead breaching Israel's air defense system could cause catastrophic destruction and loss of life."

Israel carried out massive strikes in Yemen on Thursday in an effort to punish the YAF and its support for Gaza, where Israeli forces continue the genocide against Palestinians.

After the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Ansarallah, the resistance movement now leading the YAF, was among the last resistance groups active "after Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria."

Ansarallah "are learning and they will learn the hard way that anyone who attacks Israel pays a very heavy price," Netanyahu threatened.

 

Former Al-Qaeda in Syria founder named as caretaker Foreign Minister

The General Command of the Armed Opposition Factions in Syria has appointed Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, a founding member of Al-Qaeda in Syria, as the country's new caretaker foreign minister.

The official Syrian news agency (SANA) reported on 21 December that Shibani, a 37-year-old graduate of Damascus University, was chosen to fill the post. He previously led the political department of the National Salvation government, which has ruled Syria's northwestern governorate of Idlib since Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) conquered it in 2015. 

HTS, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, launched an assault from Idlib on 27 November and quickly toppled the cities of Aleppo, Hama, and Homs. HTS militants entered Damascus, toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad, and seized power in Syria on 8 December.

Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, is the former leader of Al-Qaeda in Syria, previously known as the Nusra Front.

According to the opposition Syria TV, which broadcasts from Istanbul, Foreign Minister Shibani was previously known as Zaid al-Attar. He was in charge of the foreign relations file and oversaw the transformation of the Nusra Front into HTS.

The Al-Marifa website reported that Attar, who resided in Turkiye until 2024, is one of the founders of the Nusra Front, alongside Sharaa.

Reuters notes the US, other western powers, and many Syrians were glad to see HTS militants topple Assad, "but it is not clear whether the Islamist group will impose strict Islamic rule or show flexibility and move towards democracy."

On 10 December, Mohammed al-Bashir, another member of Sharaa's National Salvation government in Idlib, was named president of the caretaker government in Syria.

Sharaa began his militant career with Al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2003. He was sent by future ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to create a branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria and to fight the Syrian government in 2011.

The US designated Sharaa as a terrorist in 2013, despite providing weapons and money to his group throughout the war and despite his role as an agent for effecting US foreign policy.

Washington announced it would remove a $10 million bounty on his head on Friday to more openly support him and his new government in Damascus, despite Sharaa’s terrorist past.