One Yemeni attack shook battle-tested Israeli air defenses to core
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"Israel" is scrambling to find low-cost ways to enhance its air defense mechanisms, amid exposed vulnerabilities.
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People are seen through a broken window next to the scene of an explosive drone attack in Tel Aviv, occupied Palestine, on Friday, July 19, 2024. (AP)
The July 19 drone operations by the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) against Tel Aviv exposed the vulnerabilities of the Israeli air defense mechanisms.
Federico Borsari, a defense expert at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), told Business Insider, "The July 19 drone attack showed the importance of the human factor as well as training and mission planning in any military situation," confirming, on the side of the YAF, "a quite sophisticated mission planning based on attacking Israel from the least expected direction — the Mediterranean Sea."
He further highlighted how the YAF "carefully selected the drone's flight path and waypoints to make it fly at a relatively low altitude and along the Eritrean, Sudanese, and Egyptian coastline to minimize its exposure to Western ship-based radars and air defense assets in the Red Sea."
The YAF announced a successful drone strike last month targeting a significant site in Tel Aviv, occupied Palestine, in continuation of their operations in support of Gaza.
The operation in question was conducted by the newly developed Yafa drone, YAF spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree declared. The drone is named after the Palestinian city occupied by "Israel" as part of greater Tel Aviv.
Yemeni A-ns-ar Allah leader Sayyed Abdul-Ma-li-k al-H-ou-thi introduced on July 21 the Yafa drone, describing it as "an advanced UAV with significant tactical and technical capabilities, long-range, and superior destructive power."
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 22, 2024
He clarified that the drone was manufactured… pic.twitter.com/jelqbLq2fP
The UAV is designed with the specific aim of evading enemy radar and interception systems, Saree said. The drone reached its target and achieved its operational objectives. Israeli media sources revealed that a large drone approached Tel Aviv from the sea at a low altitude. It is still unclear how the drone managed to bypass all defensive systems and strike the building.
According to Borsari, the failure to intercept was most likely due to "human error in the identification process" on the part of the Israelis, which might have been caused by inadequate communication, inadequate training, or even neglect. Although the unidentified aircraft was detected by sensors, the air defense crews did not attempt to identify it, suggesting that they were not paying attention to approaches from the side of the West as a potential threat area.
Read more: Ansar Allah chief vows more strikes on Tel Aviv coming
In response to the Tel Aviv operation, at least 87 people were reported wounded in airstrikes by Israeli jets targeting areas around the Hodeidah port in Yemen.
The Israeli military is getting ready to redeploy gun-based air defenses in order to defend military installations and vital infrastructure against frequent drone assaults by the Lebanese Resistance, Hezbollah. These could be the M61 Vulcan cannons with six barrels that "Israel" is considering installing atop armored vehicles as an affordable defense against these drones.
This comes as Hezbollah has launched about 1,000 drones at "Israel" since October 8, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.
With this, the Lebanese Resistance group has demonstrated an ability to learn and take advantage of what is dubbed "blind spots" in Israeli defenses by mapping northern occupied Palestine with its surveillance drones, said Sarit Zehavi, founder and president of Alma Research and Education Center, an Israeli think tank, as reported by the WSJ.
This ability is best exemplified in the Hoopoe missions videos provided by the Islamic Resistance.
The Wall Street Journal stated that drones are becoming an issue for the occupation, as they can be small and difficult to detect, and they don't follow predictable paths or release the intense heat from rocket engines that makes it simpler to locate and eliminate missiles.
Moreover, they are cheap and plentiful and are being deployed by Israeli adversaries in increasing numbers and sophistication, as per WSJ.
