2024 Tel Aviv drone attack | |
---|---|
Part of the Red Sea crisis and the spillover of the Israel–Hamas war | |
Type | Drone attack |
Location | |
Target | Apartment building in Tel Aviv |
Date | 19 July 2024 |
Executed by | ![]() |
Casualties | 1 killed, 10 injured [1] |
Yemeni Houthi militants performed a drone attack on Israel on 19 July 2024, hitting an apartment building near the US Embassy branch office in Tel Aviv, Israel's economic center [2] in Ben Yehuda Street. [3] The drone strike killed one person in his apartment building, and injured 10 others. [1] [4] The drone was spotted but not intercepted due to what Israel attributed to human error, with the Houthis asserting that they had developed a drone with the ability to evade the Iron Dome. The air raid siren was also not activated. [5]
The attack is reportedly the first successful one by the Houthis to hit its target, with previous attempts being intercepted by either Israeli defenses or Western allies located in the region. [2] Israeli military responded one day after by striking the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah. [6]
On 19 October 2023, Houthis fired a barrage of rockets and drones into Israeli territory, demanding an end to Israel's invasion of Gaza. These projectiles were intercepted by Israel's Arrow missile defense system, missing their intended targets. Subsequently, the Houthis intensified their attacks on ships they considered associated with Israel or its foreign allies, disrupting one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. In December 2023, the United States and several Western allies launched operations in the Red Sea to thwart attacks on ships originating from Yemeni territory and to ensure the security of shipping routes. Despite these efforts, the campaign largely fell short of its goals. [7]
The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, stated that the aircraft was a new drone type, named “Jaffa” that was able to fly "undetected through Israel’s extensive air defence systems." [5] The drone is suspected by the IDF to have been an Iranian-made Samad-3 modified by the Houthis to carry more fuel (for a longer range) in exchange for a smaller warhead. [8] The drone was spotted but not intercepted. Israel claimed this was due to human error, while the Houthis claimed they had made a drone capable of bypassing the Iron Dome. [4] Likewise, no air raid siren was sounded. [8] [9]
According to The Associated Press news agency, the attack marks the first successful one hitting the target with the others being "intercepted by either Israeli defenses or Western allies with forces stationed in the region." [2] Likewise, According to Ibrahim al-Marashi, associate professor at California State University, the Houthi attack marked both a technical and symbolic victory in that it marked the first time the group had entered Israeli territory since hostilities began in October 2023, evading Israeli air defense systems and causing damage. [7]
Video from the blast site revealed shattered glass scattered across the sidewalks, while onlookers gathered near a building marked by the explosion. The area was cordoned off with police tape. IDF said it had had initiated an investigation into the drone attack causing a "large explosion" near the U.S. embassy office and would determine why the country's air defense systems were not activated to intercept the “aerial target”. [2] Houthi militants said that the attack on Tel Aviv as the beginning of the fifth phase of their conflict with Israel. [10]
Hezbollah hailed the event as a victory for the "oppressed Palestinian people" and their fighters. They mentioned that Yemeni fighters were backing the "brave Palestinian fighters" in Gaza, who are "defending all the people and nations of the Arab and Islamic world". [2] Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid criticized the attack, stating it further demonstrated the current government's inability to provide security for Israeli citizens. [2]
On 20 July, Israeli aircraft struck military and oil refining facilities at the Hudaydah Port in retaliation. [11] [12] [13]
Al Hudaydah, also transliterated as Hodeda, Hodeida, Hudaida or Hodeidah, is the fourth-largest city in Yemen and its principal port on the Red Sea and it is the centre of Al Hudaydah Governorate. As of 2023, it has an estimated population of 735,000.
The Houthi–Saudi Arabian conflict is an ongoing armed conflict between the Royal Saudi Armed Forces and Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi forces that has been taking place in the Arabian Peninsula, including the southern Saudi regions of Asir, Jizan, and Najran, and northern Yemeni governorates of Saada, Al Jawf, and Hajjah, since the onset of the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen in 2015.
The Samad is a family of long-range UAVs of unidentified origin used in the Middle East. The Samad is available in three variants: The Samad-1, the Samad-2, and the Samad-3. The Samad family of UAVs is primarily used by the Houthi movement in the Yemeni civil war, where the drone's long range is used to strike targets in Saudi Arabia, Israel and the UAE.
The year 2023 in Israel was defined first by wide-scale protests against a proposed judicial reform, and then by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, which led to a war and to Israel invading the Gaza Strip.
The Hudaydah Port is a key Yemeni port on the Red Sea coast. It is the second largest port in the country, located in Al Hudaydah, the fourth largest city in Yemen. The port handles up to 80% of the humanitarian supplies, fuel and commercial goods in northern Yemen.
The Red Sea crisis began on 19 October 2023, when the Iran-backed Ansar Allah in Yemen launched missiles and armed drones at Israel, demanding an end to the invasion of the Gaza Strip. The Houthis have since seized and launched aerial attacks against dozens of merchant and naval vessels in the Red Sea, drawing hundreds of air strikes on missile sites and other targets by US and allied forces. The crisis is linked to the Israel–Hamas war, the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, the Iran–United States proxy conflict, and the Yemeni crisis.
Events of the year 2024 in Israel.
Events in the year 2024 in Yemen.
This is a chronological timeline of the Israel–Hezbollah conflict since October 2023.
These are monthly timelines of the Red Sea crisis, which began on 19 October 2023.
Since 12 January 2024, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, have launched a series of cruise missile and airstrikes, codenamed Operation Poseidon Archer, against the Houthi movement in Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis had previously declared that their attacks are in support of Palestinians during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war; Houthi attacks on shipping were condemned by the United Nations Security Council the day before the initial strike.
Since the beginning of the Israel–Hamas war, which has mostly been confined to southern Israel and the Gaza Strip, a number of armed clashes and standoffs have been reported in other parts of the Middle East, particularly involving Shia Islamist militias backed by Iran. There has been speculation that any escalation of these incidents, specifically between Israel and Hezbollah—an Iranian-backed Shia militia which is based in southern Lebanon and which is more powerful than the Lebanese Armed Forces —could bring the entire region into a full-scale military conflict. In addition to the Israel–Hezbollah conflict, the Iranian-backed Houthi militia—which controls parts of northern Yemen, but is not internationally recognized as the country's government —became directly involved in the conflict by firing missiles at Israeli cities, albeit on a limited scale; the Houthis have since focused more on seizing civilian cargo ships passing through the Red Sea in order to inflict economic losses on Israel and the global economy, evoking American and British airstrikes against Houthi-controlled Yemen. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have also mounted numerous attacks against American military bases in the region; these confrontations have increasingly escalated tensions between long-time adversaries Iran and the United States, especially after the 2024 Iranian missile strikes in Iraq and Syria. In the West Bank, over 100 Palestinians have been killed in armed confrontations with Israeli soldiers and Israeli settlers, as violence in the territory increased drastically following the Hamas-led attack on Israel.
On 30 May 2024, the United States and United Kingdom conducted a joint set of airstrikes in Sanaa and Hodeidah, Yemen, killing 16 people and injuring 42. The United States and United Kingdom claimed that the strikes were targeting members of the Houthi rebel group; however, the Houthis claimed all those killed or injured in the strikes were civilians.
On 20 July 2024, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched an attack on Hudaydah Port in Al Hudaydah, Yemen. The attack damaged a power generating station, an oil refinery, fuel storage facilities belonging to the Yemen Petroleum Corporation (YPC), and port cranes. Israel claimed it targeted weapon storage facilities. 14 people were killed, including 12 port employees and more than 90 were injured, many with severe burns.