Chaos erupts in Israel as Houthis go hypersonic

Right, so the Houthis is Yemen now have the capability to reach central Israel with ordnance so advanced it can travel the 2000km distance in under 15 minutes, travelling so fast, Israeli air defence systems are basically rendered useless by it and if that isn’t a terrifying prospect I don’t know what is, but such is the position Israel now finds itself in, refusing to engage meaningfully in a ceasefire, and increasingly finding itself less and less safe from attacks by pro Palestinian forces.
Of course as with everything to do with the Houthis, it’s what in the way of ordnance do they have that is the biggest question. They had this one rocket, this hypersonic ballistic missile, but do they have more? And whilst the media tries to play down this attack by saying it hit an unpopulated area, it did come down just outside of Tel Aviv, so who’s to say next time it won’t be Tel Aviv itself? Will that be a price worth paying for Benjamin Netanyahu to remain in post as well?
Right, so Sunday morning Middle Eastern time saw more than 2 million people scatter for the cover of shelters in Tel Aviv as the Houthis for the first time succeeded in hitting central Israel with a hypersonic ballistic missile, presumably supplied by Iran, so hey, look what they can likely still do to Israel if and when they decide to respond to that assassination that took place in Tehran several weeks ago now. Perhaps this is how they are choosing to do that though? Through proxies demonstrating some of the arsenal Iran has at its disposal, in which case is this the only one or will Yemen fire another shortly? That is very much the debate Israel will be having right now.
Hypersonic missiles are, as the term might imply to you, faster than the speed of sound missiles, but actually to be called hypersonic, it means they don’t just travel faster than sound, they have to travel at least 5 times faster than the speed of sound, Mach 5 and some can apparently travel at speed of up to Mach 9. Not only that, but they are also manoeuvrable and capable of changing trajectory, making them all but impossible to respond to, except to seek shelter. By the time radar have picked them up, they’re basically about to hit, so there is literally no way Israel could counter such a fast moving weapon.
Where some media report it came down in an uninhabited area near Tel Aviv, implying Houthi inaccuracy perhaps, or that this was a flex rather than a shot with intent, that is the official line of the Israeli army, but the missile according to sources such as The Cradle came down in the town of Kfar Daniel in an area not far from Tel Aviv’s main Ben Gurion airport and as multiple video clips following the impact have shown, the strike has caused fires in nearby forested areas and has caused significant damage to a train station in another nearby town called Modiin, where a section of the track was seen to be on fire.
A Yemeni spokesperson said:
‘“By the grace of Allah, the missile force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a special military operation targeting an Israeli military objective in the Yafa area of occupied Palestine. The operation was executed using a new hypersonic ballistic missile, which successfully reached its target, with the enemy's defenses failing to intercept it. The missile covered a distance of 2,040 kilometers in 11 minutes and 30 seconds.”’
From attacking boats with cheap drones and dinghies, to hypersonic ballistic missiles inside 11 months, it’s quite th upgrade for the Houthis, showing how determined they are to not stop what they are doing until, as has been stated a million times by now, Israel get out of Gaza and engage in a meaningful permanent ceasefire. It really is so easy for Israel to end this before things escalate further, but of course that relies on Benjamin Netanyahu doing what must be done for the good of his country and his people and not just what suits himself, and well I won’t hold my breath that he’s coming to that conclusion any time soon. Other’s in his government are, his defence minister Yoan Gallant is getting more and more fed up with him over the Israeli position with regards to Lebanon, to the point he might be about to get sacked and replaced with a guy who wants to rout Hezbollah as much as Netanyahu has insisted must be the case in Gaza with regards to Hamas, but a fater than the speed of sound hypersonic missile landing just outside of Tel Aviv courtesy of Yemen, well will that make Israel consider their priorities? They are fighting a war on too many fronts in the vain hope that they and draw more western nations in and in the immediate to short or medium term, it just isn’t going to happen.
It isn’t like Israel didn’t apparently try though. According to France 24’s coverage, several attempts to intercept the missile were made by both their Arrow defence system and the Iron Dome defence system and that Israel are examining the results. I think the results speak for themselves. You missed. Houthi claims suggest Israel tried to stop this missile 20 times and failed each time.
Of course that doesn’t stop Netanyahu being typically brass-necked and bullish about things, he just won’t learn and in a typically brazen response to the strike, failed to mention the safety of his own people once, more just threw his toys out of the pram and threatened repercussions, as usual. He said:
‘We are in a multi-arena war against Iran’s evil axis that strives to destroy us.
This morning the Houthis launched a surface to surface missile from Yemen into our territory. They should have known by now that we take a heavy price for any attempt to harm us.
Anyone who needs a reminder in this matter is welcome to visit the port of Hodeidah.
Anyone who attacks us will not escape from our arms. Hamas is already learning this in our determined action that will lead to its destruction and the release of all our hostages.’
He then went on to talk big about Hezbollah as well in the north, he just doesn’t get that he cannot fight an infinite war on infinite fronts and win. Where Israel and Hezbollah seem to be getting dragged closer and closer to war, smack talk against Yemen comes with it as well. What if it is Hezbollah that get supplied with one of these missiles next? Much shorter distance to travel, what hope have you to intercept that and what about your people? The only ones you mention are your hostages in Gaza and you’ve killed more of them than you have rescued. If you cared about them, you wouldn’t intentionally screw up every round of peace talks and negotiations. If Netanyahu thought the Israeli strikes on the Port of Hodeidah would teach Yemen a lesson, he still really does not understand those people and the fact that they never back away, never back down. They’ve literally taken your attack on Hodeidah and said, here, we’re going to raise you one hypersonic missile, catch it if you can and who knows if they don’t have more? There are reports saying that this missile strike was a probing of Israeli defence systems, that this was a test, not just of the rocket I suppose, but of the Houthis ability to actually fire them. At some point or other if things are not de-escalated by Israel or if Israeli allies don’t apply some pressure that Netanyahu will be forced to listen to, then a more populous target in Israel seems a certainty at some point in the near future and it is so easily avoidable, just get the hell out of Gaza. Until Netanyahu’s position is made untenable there can be no peace. Where he’s looking at ditching Gallant today potentially, by the time this goes out he may have gone already, it’s his government that should be looking at ditching him, but the far right won’t do that while he’s doing their bidding, though actually Netanyahu has a bit more leverage now given those far right parties are collapsing in the polls and they will likely be dumped out of power, out of coalition as part of government, should an election be held right now. But of course that’s a risk to Netanyahu himself too, and he just won’t countenance that, not for anything.
This isn’t a slipping through the crack moment. Following the successful drone strike by Yemen back in July, this is the second time they’ve been able to strike Tel Aviv and evade Israeli defences. They are learning more and more about them, and will, if this situation continues, get better and better at avoiding countermeasures. Israel and it’s people should rightly be really nervous about this. They thought they were untouchable, but they really, really aren’t.
Where Yemen have actually been the more restrained, the attack on the Port of Hodeidah by Israel was a direct strike on a civilian population, so we can expect Israel to retaliate in kind by targeting civilians again, after all, where exactly the Houthis are from one point to the next is difficult to determine. There is still no excusing such barbaric conduct against civilians, but as we’ve seen enough of in Gaza, Israel’s government and army don’t appear to care one iota about such matters. Not the most moral army, but very much the polar opposite. Get the details of the Hodeidah strike and Israeli retaliation against Yemen in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.