IDF shoots down drone ‘dozens of kilometers’ off coast of central Israel, Houthis claim responsibility

The IDF shot down a hostile drone over the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of central Israel, the army reported on Tuesday morning.

“A short time ago, the Air Force intercepted an unmanned aircraft in the sky of the Mediterranean Sea, dozens of kilometers west of the coast of Israel in the central region of the country,” the IDF stated.

Several hours later, a spokesman for the Yemeni Houthi terror group, Yahya Saree, claimed his group “successfully” attacked Jaffa and Eilat with drones.

According to Saree, a military target in Jaffa was struck with a “Yafa”-type drone, while multiple military targets were hit with four drones of the type “Samad-4.”

No alarm sirens were activated in the vicinity of Eilat on Tuesday, and the IDF did not report any attack in the area.

Also Tuesday, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said it received a report that a ship was hit by a drone off the coast of Yemen. "A ship was hit by a drone. The port ballast tank number 6 was punctured," the agency announced.

The attacks came shortly after the IDF struck around 10 targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen with dozens of aircraft on Sunday.

The strikes reportedly targeted port installations, oil infrastructure, power plants and an airport near the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Issa.

Four people were killed in the strike, the Yemeni al-Masira channel reported.

While Houthi officials declared that the attack was unsuccessful and claimed to have emptied oil reservoirs in Hodeidah beforehand, footage of massive fireballs and explosions appeared to indicate otherwise.

Houthi spokesman Muhammad Abd al-Salam called the strikes, “Another Israeli aggression on civilian facilities in Al-Hudaydah, in an attempt to break Yemen's decision to support Gaza.”

“We condemn the Zionist aggression supported by the US, and it is impossible that it will affect the will of the Yemeni people, which is a stronger will than all the Israeli and American arrogance against the peoples of the region.”

“Also, the Israeli aggression against Yemen establishes the Yemeni principled position regarding Palestine and Gaza, and what the Yemeni people declare in their weekly demonstrations of millions of people that they will not give up Palestine and Lebanon,” said Abd al-Salam.