A drone fired by the Houthi militants in Yemen breached Israel’s multilayered air defenses on Sunday and slammed into the country’s southern airport, the Israeli military said, briefly shutting down commercial airspace and diverting flights over southern Israel.
One of several Houthi drones launched from Yemen slipped through Israel’s defense system and 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, sending smoke plumes billowing and lightly wounding one person.
The damage to Ramon Airport appeared limited and within a couple of hours it reopened as normal flights resumed.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the strike.
The attack comes days after Israeli strikes on Yemen’s rebel-held capital of Sanaa killed the Houthi prime minister 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.