The Houthi terror group in Yemen launched three drones at Israel within one hour on Thursday night, resuming attacks after a four-day pause.
All drones were intercepted without causing injuries or damage.
Only the first one triggered alarm sirens in several small communities on the southern periphery of the Gaza Envelope, while the other two drones were shot down over the Mediterranean Sea without alarms being activated per policy, the IDF said.
The drone assault marked the return of Houthi attacks after about four days of relative quiet. The Yemeni group had markedly ramped up its attacks against Israel around the start of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The last Israeli series of airstrikes against the Houthis came two weeks ago. Since then, the terror group has launched five ballistic missiles and four drones at Israel, without drawing a direct response from the Israeli Air Force.
According to media reports, the Israeli leadership has been working to convince the U.S.-led anti-Houthi alliance to step up its attacks in Yemen.
On Wednesday, U.S. CENTCOM said it struck weapons depots used by the Houthis in their attacks on warships and merchant ships in the Red Sea.
"U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted multiple precision strikes against two Iranian-backed Houthi underground Advanced Conventional Weapon (ACW) storage facilities within Houthi-controlled territories of Yemen," CENTCOM said. "The strikes are part of CENTCOM's effort to degrade Iranian-backed Houthi attempts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region."
The IDF said that the Houthis have launched around 40 ballistic missiles and some 320 drones at Israel since the start of the war, most of which were intercepted by air defenses.
The Houthi regime is a "central branch of the Iranian axis, and is responsible for undermining the regional order and disrupting global freedom of navigation," according to the IDF.
The Israeli military has struggled to effectively combat the Houthi threat so far. Among the main contributing factors is the huge distance between Israel and Yemen, which makes intelligence gathering difficult.
The IDF has not prioritized gathering intelligence on the Houthis, as the group only recently began directly attacking Israel.
As part of an effort to improve its capabilities in the area, the IDF recently began a recruitment drive for Yemeni-background Israelis who speak the region's distinctive Arabic dialect to join its ranks, Israeli media reported.
The new recruits include Jews who were born in Yemen and recently immigrated to Israel, as well as some who grew up in families that still speak Yemeni Arabic at home.
Today there are around 400,000 Jews from Yemeni backgrounds living in Israel. Some of the last few dozen Jews remaining in Yemen were expelled by Houthi rebel forces in 2021.
Republished with permission from All Israel News.
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