Israeli army failed to fully destroy Houthi ballistic missile: Media reports

By Khaled Yousef

JERUSALEM (AA) - Preliminary investigations by the Israeli Air Force have indicated that while the Arrow (Hetz) defense system successfully intercepted a ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi group on Sunday morning, it failed to completely destroy it, according to Israeli media.

Despite the interception, the missile landed in an open area near Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, the reports said.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military announced it had launched an investigation into the performance of its air defense systems in response to the ground-to-ground ballistic missile attack.

The Houthi-launched missile targeted central Israel and caused minor injuries to nine people while rushing to shelters. Fires broke out in nearby forests, and a large cement factory also caught fire, likely due to debris from the interceptors, the media reports said.

Channel 12 said an Israeli army initial investigation revealed that while multiple interceptors from the Arrow system were deployed, the Houthi missile was not fully destroyed as expected.

The system reportedly caused the missile to disintegrate, but remnants still fell to the ground. The investigation is now focusing on whether a technical malfunction prevented the system from achieving a complete interception.

The Arrow missile defense system, developed by Boeing with US support, is designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles.

It has three versions: Arrow 1, Arrow 2, and the more advanced Arrow 3, capable of intercepting missiles outside of the atmosphere.

The system operates by striking targets directly rather than exploding nearby, as other systems do.

The Houthi group claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that they targeted a military site in the central Israeli city of Jaffa using a hypersonic ballistic missile with a range of over 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles).

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Houthi group of severe retaliation, vowing that he would “exact a heavy price” on them.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul