At least one of the drones slipped through Israel’s defense system and crashed into the passenger terminal at the Ramon International Airport.
A drone fired by the Houthi militants in Yemen breached Israel’s air defenses on Sunday and slammed into the country’s southern airport, the Israeli military said.
It was one of several drones fired by the Houthis, according to the military, but it said most had been intercepted outside of Israel.
The drone crashed into the passenger terminal at the Ramon International Airport near the resort city of Eilat, the Israeli Airports Authority said, blowing out glass windows and sending smoke plumes billowing.
The Houthis hailed Sunday’s attack on Ramon Airport — some 19 kilometers (12 miles) from Eilat on Israel’s southern tip — as “a unique, qualitative military operation.”
“Enemy airports are unsafe, and foreigners must leave them for their own safety”, Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, wrote on social media. “Other sensitive targets are under fire.”
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency rescue service said it treated a 63-year-old man for light shrapnel wounds. The damage to Ramon Airport appeared limited, and within a couple of hours, it reopened as normal flights resumed.
The attack comes days after Israeli strikes on Yemen’s rebel-held capital of Sanaa killed Houthi Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi and other officials in his cabinet in a major escalation of the nearly 2-year-old conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in Yemen.
