IDF Shoots Down Houthi Drone Over Eilat

The Israeli Air Force intercepted a drone launched from Yemen overnight between Monday and Tuesday, triggering sirens in Eilat for the first time in two months.

The alert sounded in the southern city at 12:03 a.m. Thirteen minutes later, Home Front Command informed residents that they could leave protected spaces. No injuries were reported.

Minutes before the siren in Eilat, alerts were also activated in the Western Galilee communities of Shomera and Even Menachem over fears of a hostile aircraft infiltration. A siren was later heard in Zar’it as well. The IDF Spokesperson said a suspicious aerial target had been identified and that the incident ended without casualties.

The launch from Yemen marked the second Houthi attack in the past day. Earlier Monday morning, sirens were activated in central Israel after two missiles were launched from Yemen.

The overnight incident came after a sharp regional escalation that began Sunday evening, when Iran launched 11 missiles toward northern Israel in response to Israel’s strike in Beirut. The exchange expanded into a broader confrontation that included Houthi attacks, Israeli strikes in Iran and Iranian missile fire across wide areas of Israel.

On Monday afternoon, Tehran announced that it was ending its military operations against Israel, while warning that harsher attacks would follow if Israel resumed strikes in Lebanon, including in southern Lebanon and the Dahieh district of Beirut.

After a meeting of the limited security cabinet, a senior Israeli official said Israel was stopping its strikes in Iran at the request of US President Donald Trump. The official said Israel would continue operating in Lebanon “with full force” under the policy that if Hezbollah fires at Israeli communities, Israel will strike Dahieh.

Another senior Israeli official said Israel was still awaiting a final decision, but that the direction was to stop attacks in Iran, not in Lebanon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday night that Iran and Hezbollah had tried to impose “a new, intolerable and unacceptable equation” on Israel.

“They thought they would fire from Lebanon and Iran at Israel, and we would not act,” Netanyahu said. “That did not happen and it will not happen, not on my watch.”

Netanyahu said he ordered strikes in Beirut after Hezbollah fire and ordered strikes across Iran after Iran attacked Israel.

“If the terror regime in Iran returns to attacking Israel, we will respond with force, because Israel has the full right to self-defense,” he said.

He added that Israel would continue working with the United States while defending itself “with determination and wisdom,” saying the goal remains restoring security to northern Israel.