Houthis сlaim hypersonic strike on Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport

The armed forces affiliated with Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, announced that they had launched a hypersonic ballistic missile strike targeting Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

The claim was made by the group’s military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, in a statement broadcast on Al Masirah, a television channel controlled by the Yemeni rebel movement.

According to Saree, the missile forces of Ansar Allah carried out what he described as a “unique military operation” by launching a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile at Lod Airport — another name for Ben Gurion. He asserted that the operation had “successfully achieved its goal,” claiming that the strike led to the shutdown of Israel’s primary airport and forced millions of Israeli citizens to seek shelter.

On the evening of July 18, the press service of the Israel Defence Forces confirmed the detection of a missile launch from Yemeni territory toward Israel. According to the IDF, the missile was intercepted before it could reach its target. The launch triggered air raid sirens across multiple regions of the country.

Israeli media outlets reported that the alerts prompted Tel Aviv residents to seek cover in bomb shelters. Simultaneously, Ben Gurion Airport temporarily suspended all takeoffs and landings as a precautionary measure in response to the perceived threat.

The escalation comes in the context of continued tensions following the intensification of conflict in the Gaza Strip in 2023. During that period, the Houthis warned that they would target Israeli territory and disrupt the passage of vessels with Israeli ties through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. While those attacks paused following a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in mid-January this year, hostilities resumed after the truce collapsed in early March. Since then, the Houthis have renewed both their missile strikes on Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea and attempted direct attacks on Israeli territory, including repeated attempts to target Ben Gurion Airport.

By Tamilla Hasanova