Yemenite drone strike on Israeli coastal city

No one was hurt in the attack, with the projectile falling in an open area.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Ashkelon residents woke up Tuesday morning at 6:40 to sirens warning of the penetration of a threatening UAV headed in their direction.

By 6:57, the IDF announced that the incident was over, and twelve minutes later updated that an unmanned aerial vehicle “from the east” had fallen in an “open area” in the area of the coastal city that sits close to the northern border of the Gaza Strip.

No one was hurt, but a fire broke out in the brambles and bushes where the projectile hit earth. Firefighters and the police were dispatched to put it out and deal with the UAV fragments.

An hour and a half later, the army officially stated that the threat had emanated from the Houthis, the Iranian proxy terror group that controls large sections of Yemen.

“Following an initial examination regarding the UAV that fell in an open area in Ashkelon in southern Israel earlier today, it was determined that the UAV was launched from Yemen,” the IDF said in a statement.

This is the second time in six weeks that a Houthi projectile managed to penetrate Israel’s air defenses.

In mid-September, the terrorists fired what they called a “hypersonic ballistic missile” at the center of the country, sending over a million Israelis racing for bomb shelters and safe rooms.

The missile was hit by an interceptor and fragmented over a large area, doing some damage to a train station in Modiin. Nine people were slightly injured running for cover.

Air raid sirens warning of a UAV attack also wailed Tuesday morning around 7am in the Western Galilee city of Nahariya and its environs. This time the UAV was fired from Lebanon, and was shot down mid-air by IAF jets as it was heading for populated areas.

Pieces of either the interceptor, UAV, or both hit a train car near the station and one of the cables holding up a pedestrian bridge, with no injuries reported.

Hezbollah then launched a barrage of over 40 rockets at the border communities and western northern Galilee in a two-minute period starting at 10:38. Residents reported hearing the booms of missile interceptors hitting their targets. No injuries were immediately reported as the police began scanning the areas where falls were recorded.

The IDF reported that over the last 24 hours, dozens of Hezbollah terrorists have been eliminated in South Lebanon by its ground forces and over 110 terror targets were destroyed, including rocket launchers and weaponry warehouses.