It was not immediately clear how the strike evaded Israel’s air defenses or how Israel might respond.
injuring at least 10 people and leaving one dead
Yemen’s Houthis have repeatedly launched drones and missiles toward Israel throughout the nine-month-long war, in sympathy with Hamas. But until Friday, all were intercepted by either Israel or Western allies with forces stationed in the region.
AP for what ever reason have decided that noone has claimed responsibility, yet include several paragraphs about the Houthis.
The military spokesman of Yemen's Houthi militants, which like Hezbollah are backed by Iran, said on the X social media website that the group would reveal details about a military operation that targeted Tel Aviv.
Israel’s military said that they were reviewing the explosion and increasing air patrols after the incident, which its initial inquiries determined was caused by “an aerial target.”
Israel has so far not made attacks on the Houthis, allowing its allies instead to take the lead as it focuses its efforts on the war in Gaza and ongoing fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group.
It comes as international mediators continue to hold out hope for a cease-fire agreement, pushing Israel and Hamas toward a phased deal that would halt fighting and free about 120 hostages held by the militant group in Gaza.
Local police in Tel Aviv said that the Friday blast sounded at around 3:10 a.m., reverberating to nearby cities and physically injuring at least 10 people.
Tel Aviv District Commander Peretz Amar said officers could not locate the point of contact, suggesting the explosion occurred in the air.
The war in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, has killed more than 38,600 people, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
The original article contains 627 words, the summary contains 187 words. Saved 70%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Hezbollah has been launching combination rocket/drone attacks along the entire northern border for the last 6 months. In the least week or two there have been several reports of hits without any warning sirens. I'm inclined to say that this is indicative of a shift in tactics and/or technology that has been shared, and may also impact the Ukraine war (the drones are the same Iranian design/manufacture).
This incident will draw lots of saber rattling against the Houthis, and there will probably be some air raids on Houthi military assets by various coalition forces. The ones to watch here are Saudi Arabia and Jordan - they both have the opportunity to earn some goodwill for relatively little risk and achieve their own goals at the same time.
I have no clue if the Houthis will attempt to escalate this with larger drone swarms. Their doctrine so far has been less than 20 daily, most of which are targeting ships or Eilat. But this is the first time they've directly targeted Tel Aviv.
Seems like AP is getting some basic facts mixed up here?
Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel during a single incident in April in response to Israel’s alleged assassination of a pair of Iranian generals in Syria at the time.
Iran launched an unprecedented large-scale drone and missile attack at Israel on Saturday night, in retaliation for a suspected Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic complex in Syria