Hostage ribbons drawn across Israel's skies | IDF Navy ship shoots down Houthi drone | Alleged Israeli airstrike causes earthquake scare on Syrian coast

07:30 – Unknown pilot draws hostages’ ribbon across Israel’s skies

A ribbon, which has become a symbol for remembering the Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas, was painted across the country’s skies in the morning.

According to Army Radio, the initiative was carried out by civilian planes and not by the Israeli Air Force.

The ribbon was widely visible across central Israel, including the greater Tel Aviv and Jerusalem regions.

חטופים.
פארק הלאומי רמת גן pic.twitter.com/aNI62d3Qv1
— יוסי שחבר (@yosi_shahbar) December 16, 2024

07:17 – IDF shoots down hostile drone launched in Yemen over the sea

The IDF said it shot down a drone that was launched from Yemen over the Mediterranean Sea.

A missile boat of the Navy used the ship-mounted “C-Dome” to intercept the drone before it reached Israeli territory, therefore, no sirens were activated.

According to Army Radio, the Houthi terror group in Yemen launched 5 ballistic missiles and 5 drones at Israel since the start of November. Israel’s last strikes in Yemen came in September.

06:00 – Alleged Israeli airstrike causes earthquake scare on Syrian coast

An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.1 on the Richter scale was measured after an alleged Israeli airstrike on a munitions depot of the former Syrian army near the coastal city of Tartus late last night.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-aligned group, claimed the strikes were among the heaviest since 2012, and hit several targets including air defense units and “surface-to-surface missile depots.”

While the earthquake was measured around the same time as the strikes, there is no confirmation the measurement was directly caused by the strikes.

The Geographic Survey of Israel’s seismology department said the 3.1 tremor was measured at 11:49 p.m. last night, its epicenter being some 28 kilometers (17 miles) off the coast of the city of Banias.