Israel is likely to finally respond to Yemen's Houthis, 'Post' has learned

Israel is likely to finally respond to Yemen's Houthis in the coming weeks, The Jerusalem Post learned on Monday following yet another ballistic missile attack by the Iranian proxy.

The IDF air defense intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthis at Israel on Monday, setting off sirens across central Israel, the army announced at 3:23 p.m.

Further, the IDF added that the missile did not cross into Israeli territory. However, alerts were triggered due to the possibility of falling debris from the interception.

Generally, only the Arrow missile defense system is capable of shooting down ballistic missiles, as opposed to the Iron Dome, which shoots down lower-grade rockets.

Moreover, the cost of shooting down ballistic missiles can be as high as two to three million dollars per interceptor when the Arrow 2 or 3 is used, given that Iron Dome cannot shoot down ballistic missiles.

Estimates are that the Houthis have fired around a dozen ballistic missiles and drones at Israel since the start of November, including several just in the last two weeks.

Despite these ongoing attacks, Israel has failed to respond since October.

On December 2, the Post reported that it was unclear if or when Israel would respond to the Houthi ballistic missile attack on Israel from the day before.

The ballistic missile on December 1 was shot down outside of Israeli territory, and no Israelis were killed or injured directly from the missile, but some shrapnel did land in certain central Israel areas, and a small number of persons got injured rushing for shelter.

Also, that missile - likely Monday's missile - set off warning sirens for almost all of central Israel since it was unclear exactly where it might hit if it had penetrated Israel’s air defense.  

Because no one was killed or injured, because Israel had recently wrapped up a ceasefire with Hezbollah, because Israel has been hoping to wrap up a deal with Hamas as well, because Yemen is more than 1,800 kilometers away, and because some of Israel’s grand strategy for the region is waiting for President-Elect Donald Trump to enter the White House on January 20, there were no signs whatsoever to date of an Israeli response.

In fact, if Yemen had not attacked again after December 1, Israel might have chosen not to respond at all.

Unlike the other two instances when the Houthis attacked in July and September and top Israeli officials quickly vowed a response, here Israeli officials were largely silent - until Monday.

Tackling the Houthi threat

On September 29, the IDF undertook a massive strike against Yemen’s Houthis, one which greatly exceeded the massive strike on Hodeidah in July.

Each of these attacks achieved some temporary quiet from the Houthis, but in both cases, within around a month or so after Israel's counter-strike, the Houthis started to attack Israel again.

US efforts to stop Houthi aggression beyond their country have also failed to date.