Israel intercepts Yemeni missile, Rejects US-backed Lebanon ceasefire plan
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The Israeli army said it intercepted a missile that was fired from Yemen after sirens and explosions were heard early on Friday.
“Following the sirens that sounded in central Israel, the surface-to-surface missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted by an ‘Arrow’ interceptor outside of Israeli territory,” the army said in a statement.
“There is currently no change to the IDF Defensive guidelines,” it said, using the acronym for the Israel Defense Forces.
Yemen’s Houthi militants have fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians, since the Gaza war began with a Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
In July, the Houthis fired a drone at Tel Aviv for the first time, killing a man and wounding four people. Israeli airstrikes in response on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah killed six and wounded 80.
Earlier this month, they reached central Israel with a missile that Israel said was hit by an interceptor and fragmented in the air.
Israel rejects US-backed Lebanon ceasefire plan, hits Beirut again
Israel rejected global calls on Thursday for a ceasefire with the Hezbollah movement, defying its biggest ally in Washington and pressing ahead with strikes that have killed hundreds in Lebanon and heightened fears of an all-out regional war.
Despite Israel’s stance, the U.S. and France sought to keep prospects alive for an immediate 21-day truce they proposed on Wednesday, and said negotiations continued, including on the sidelines of a United Nations meeting in New York.
An Israeli warplane struck the edges of the capital Beirut, killing two people and wounding 15, including a woman in critical condition, Lebanon’s health ministry said. That took deaths overnight and on Thursday to 28 and over 600 since Monday.
The strike killed the head of one of Hezbollah’s air force units, Mohammad Surur, Hezbollah said, the latest senior Hezbollah commander to be targeted in days of assassinations among the group’s top ranks.
On the Israeli side of the border with Lebanon, the army staged an exercise simulating a ground invasion – a potential next stage after relentless airstrikes and explosions of communications devices.
Israel’s air force is planning to assist troops in the event of a ground operation and will stop any arms transfers from Iran, Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar said late on Thursday.
“We are preparing shoulder to shoulder with Northern Command for a ground maneuver. Prepared, if activated. This is a decision to be made above us,” he told soldiers in a video distributed by the Israeli military.
Israel has vowed to secure its north and return thousands of citizens who have evacuated since Hezbollah launched a campaign of cross-border strikes last year in solidarity with Palestinian militants fighting in Gaza.
Arriving in New York before addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters the military will keep hitting Hezbollah with “full force and we will not stop until we achieve all our goals, first and foremost returning the residents of the north safely to their homes.”
