Yemen drone strikes near a hotel in Eilat southern Israel: Image by Barcopa.nl
(The Post News) – The Israeli Defence Forces said on Thursday the Houthi drone was launched from Yemen and detonated close to an entrance to a hotel in the seaside resort town of Eilat in the south. The authorities said the attack, which blared sirens before it exploded on impact, was the latest in a series of cross-border flashpoints that had broadened Israel’s war with Gaza into a deeper regional conflict.
Police confirmed that no one was hurt, but the location was cordoned off and the surrounding area closed to the public as security forces reacted. “Search and rescue forces are operating at the site where contact was made with impact,” said the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
An hour later, after the drone was downed, another plane dispatched from Yemen was destroyed by the Israeli Air Force. Hours later, hours after this, a missile attack made air raid sirens ring out in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the West Bank, and central Israel before being destroyed in an air attack. The IDF claimed to have successfully taken out both threats from its networks.
The shelling followed two days of alarms ringing out across Jerusalem and central Israel, where an Israeli defence shot down a Houthi-launched missile.
Israeli Strikes on Yemen Fuel Retaliation
Thursday’s strike followed ten days into a string of Israeli airstrikes against Yemen. The IDF announced that it attacked a “military infrastructure facility” in the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, citing that the Houthis used the hub to ship Iran-provided arms out to use against Israel and its allies.
“The attack was a response to ongoing attempts by the Houthi terrorist regime to target the State of Israel,” the military clarified.
Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree responded defiantly, saying the group had fired a hypersonic ballistic missile, Palestine-2, at a “sensitive military target” in Jaffa. He said the missile made Israeli residents retreat to shelter and briefly suspended air traffic.
Saree also indicated that the Yemeni air force conducted two additional drone strikes: one on the area of Beersheba and another on the Umm al-Rashrash area near Eilat. “This area will never be beyond the perpetually active targeting range of Yemen’s military and armed forces,” he warned.
Israel’s Yemeni campaign had intensified over recent weeks. Israeli airstrikes in Sanaa and al-Jawf province four days earlier resulted in more than 40 deaths, according to Houthi officials. The Israeli strike killed Ahmed al-Rahawi, the Houthi government’s prime minister, in late August.
The IDF believes that such missions are needed to counter threats before they tread on Israeli soil. The attacks have, however, triggered global alarm, most notably after the September 9 Israeli bombing of Qatar and subsequent successive strikes on Hodeidah.
The Thursday strike was not the first against Eilat. In the early hours of September, a Houthi drone struck the arrivals hall of Ramon International Airport and hurt five people. There had not been any prior sirens, and an IDF inquiry later discovered that while the drone had been monitored, it had not been deemed hostile.
The latest attack close to a hotel in Eilat symbolizes the city’s vulnerability despite its closed defenses and proximity to Yemen.
Regional Conflict Widens
As of October 2023, when Israel launched its Gaza war, the Houthis have positioned themselves as members of what they call the “Axis of Resistance,” vowing to strike at Israel on behalf of Palestinians. They have struck using drones, ballistic missiles, and Red Sea shipping strikes, which have interfered with international shipping routes.
In response, Israel, the United States, and the United Kingdom have conducted a series of retaliatory strikes in Yemen. Though the U.S. and UK waited since May for an interim ceasefire deal with the Houthis, Israel continues its offensive in the cause of national security.
Houthi leaders are strained, however, and revolt by claiming that their activities shall never end until Israel stops aggression on Gaza and lifts the blockade.
The Eilat drone strike is yet another turning point in the Yemen-Israel war, as the Houthis show they can project power many hundreds of kilometres beyond their borders. Escalations by both sides and increasing fatalities place the risk of a wider regional war overhanging the conflict.
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