(Eilat) The Israeli army announced Thursday that it had used its Arrow 3 anti-missile system for the first time to intercept a projectile fired “from the Red Sea region”, with the Houthi rebels in Yemen claiming for their part to have launched ballistic missiles against Israel.
A drone of unknown origin also fell on a school in the seaside resort of Eilat on the Red Sea in southern Israel on Thursday, without causing any casualties, according to the army.
“Soldiers of the Israeli air defense networks successfully launched an Arrow 3 interceptor for the first time this evening,” the Israeli military and Defense Ministry said in a statement.
This interceptor destroyed “a target launched towards Israel from the Red Sea region,” they added.
This is the first time that the Arrow 3 system, jointly developed and produced by Israel and the United States and deployed in 2017, has intercepted a target under operational conditions.
According to Israel, this very long-range system is designed to intercept “exo-atmospheric ballistic missiles”.
The Israeli army also said it had intercepted “a suspicious projectile” in the south of the country on Thursday evening using Patriot anti-aircraft batteries. She clarified that the projectile had “not entered over Israeli territory”.
In Yemen, the Houthi rebels for their part claimed to have launched on Thursday “a salvo of ballistic missiles targeting various sensitive targets” in the Eilat region, according to the spokesperson for their armed forces, Yahya Sari.
“The operation successfully achieved its objectives, causing direct damage to the designated targets despite the silence of the enemy,” he added.
Drone against a school
In recent weeks, the Yemeni group close to Iran has claimed to have launched several drone attacks against Israel, in response to Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip.
According to the Israeli army, a drone fell on Thursday “on a civilian building in the city of Eilat”. “The identity of the drone and the circumstances of the incident are under investigation,” she wrote on X.
According to an army spokeswoman on site, a school building, where people were at the time of the explosion, suffered damage. Emergency services treated seven people in shock.
The drone hit an elementary school in Eilat, according to an AFP journalist on site.
The seaside town is currently hosting tens of thousands of people evacuated from northern Israel and the border region with the Gaza Strip, where fighting is raging between the Israeli army and Palestinian Hamas.
Thursday evening, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said during a briefing with the press that the threat was “not just Yemen.” “We are monitoring threats in the region, including against Eilat, it can come from several places,” he added.
The war between Israel and Hamas, triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil on October 7, has raised fears of a regional conflagration.
More than 1,400 people died on the Israeli side, most of them civilians killed on the day of the attack, according to Israeli authorities.
In retaliation, Israel shelled the Gaza Strip, ruled by Hamas. More than 10,800 people, including 4,412 children, were killed, according to the Hamas health ministry.