Suicide drone targets building near the US embassy in Israel
FeaturedWIB land July 19, 2024 Staff Writer
dpa
(TNS)
Cairo — Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Friday claimed a drone attack on an “important target” in Tel Aviv in what the Iran-aligned militia says is retaliation for Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom said one person was killed and eight people injured following a loud explosion near a branch of the US embassy in Tel Aviv.
The Houthi military spokesman Yehya Saree said the operation had been carried out with a new drone named Yafa that is capable of bypassing Israeli interception and radar systems.
He claimed in a televised statement that his militia has a “bank of targets” in Israel, and that Tel Aviv is in the cross-hairs.
A long-range drone flew in from the sea and hit the residential building, the Israeli army said. Surrounding buildings were also damaged.
The drone was detected by air surveillance, but was not shot down due to a human error, the army said. A military spokeswoman confirmed on inquiry that there had been no air alert.
The Times of Israel newspaper, quoting an army spokesman, said the missile should not have been allowed to pierce Israeli air space.
New footage shows the drone attack near the United States Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel 🇮🇱
— DISASTER TRACKER (@DisasterTrackHQ) July 19, 2024
▪︎ 19 July 2024 ▪︎
Yemen’s Houthi group has claimed responsibility for the drone attack.
It claimed that it used a new drone “capable of bypassing interceptor systems and being unable… pic.twitter.com/a0LRHMJZHA
Although the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, the Israeli army said it assumed the Houthis were behind it but said this could not be confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt yet.
Houthi militants have also been attacking ships in the Red Sea for months.
They say they want to force an end to the Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, which followed the unprecedented massacre by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Israel last October.
©2024 dpa GmbH. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
