The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that they recently used F-35i Adir fighter jets to shoot down Houthi Quds-3 cruise missiles.
In the past few days, the IDF’s control and detection systems identified a missile launch originating from southeastern territory, heading towards Israeli airspace. The IDF tracked the missile’s trajectory and promptly scrambled F-35i Adir fighter jets, successfully intercepting and neutralizing the threat.
The use of the F-35 Adir in combat is a major milestone for the aircraft that has been in development since the early 1990s.
Later the same day, the Israeli Air Force used the Arrow, a long-range ground-to-ground missile defense system, to shoot down another missile over the Red Sea.
The Israeli Air Force, bolstered by its air defense system, employs multi-layered defenses covering Israel’s entire territory, protecting against various threats. These systems are in constant operation, with military personnel engaged in the planning and management of defense responses to a wide range of threats.
Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the spokesman for the Houthi forces, informed the Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah channel that ballistic missiles and drones were launched at targets in Israel as part of what he described as the third operation in support of the Palestinian people.
He added that there are plans to carry out further strikes until the “Israeli aggression” ceases.
“Our armed forces launched a large batch of ballistic and winged missiles and a large number of drones at various Israeli enemy targets,” he said, referring to the entirety of Israel as “occupied territories.”
The Houthi rebels are a Shiite political and military organization in Yemen that has been engaged in a civil war in the country against a coalition supported by Saudi Arabia. They have expressed support for the Palestinians and organized protests in Yemen against Israel’s actions in Gaza.