The Houthis are testing Israel’s air defenses with improved systems based on Iranian weapons, potentially sparking a new phase in the regional arms race.
Tensions with the Houthis in Yemen have increased significantly since Israel won a tactical victory over Hezbollah earlier this year. Over the past eight nights, the Houthis have attacked Israel at least five times, mainly by firing missiles targeting central Israel. Islamic extremist groups have vowed to continue attacking Israel until the war in Gaza ends.
Recent Houthi attacks set off air raid sirens and forced residents to evacuate at night, but damage and injuries were minimal. But the latest attack successfully demonstrated that the Houthis remain a threat more than a year after the war began.
Since October 7, 2023, the Houthis have launched approximately 200 missiles and 170 drones toward Israel, most of which were intercepted by Israeli defenses. Experts say the Houthis’ continued attacks show the group is improving its ballistics techniques and learning from previous attempts to attack Israel.
“Israel is intercepting Houthi missiles, but sometimes the layered air defenses fail,” Alexander Portnoy, a consultant in mission-critical military fields and warfare technology, told The Media Line.
Yehoshua Kaliski, a ballistic technology expert and senior fellow at the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said Yemen’s military strength overall is “not impressive.” “Of the 200 missiles launched by the Houthis, only a few penetrated the defense layer and most were intercepted,” he told The Media Line.
However, some of the missiles used by the Houthis have become more difficult for Israel to intercept. The Houthi Palestine 2 missile is equipped with skip-gliding technology, which allows the missile to bounce through the atmosphere and change course mid-flight rather than following a predictable parabolic trajectory. This technology improves ballistic missile evasion, accuracy, and range, complicating interception.
“Recent modifications have enabled Houthi ballistic missiles to perform correction and evasive maneuvers during flight,” Lenny Ben-David, research and diplomacy researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, explained to The Media Line. He said Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system would not be able to stop the missile, and Israel’s Arrow ballistic missiles would struggle to respond.
Ben-David said recent technology upgrades were provided by Iran. He described the Houthis as “a formidable force of more than 800,000 fighters equipped with advanced weaponry supplied by Iran, including drones, ballistic missiles, rockets and anti-aircraft systems.”
The Houthis have long been described as proxies of Iran, and the group is also funded by taxes collected from areas of Yemen under its control.
Ben-David said skip gliding technology is “not impossible” to handle in the U.S.’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.
In October 2024, the United States deployed the THAAD system to Israel to counter the Houthi threat. Images recently published online appear to show a THAAD system intercepting a Houthi attack, but the Israeli military has not confirmed its involvement.
Iran is probably working on more sophisticated technology, but it’s not there yet
Portnoy said ballistic missiles like the Palestine 2 and its ancestor, the Iranian KS-2, evade THAAD systems by flying low to the ground, but this is a tactical trade-off, as the missile’s speed He said that this could cause a decrease in accuracy. He said deploying THAAD systems in countries along the route from Yemen to Israel could “force the missiles to fly at lower altitudes, expending more energy and slowing them down.” said.
Ben-David said that Iran is behind this arms race. “The goal is to develop a system for delivering nuclear weapons, and conventional ballistic missiles are not suitable for such a purpose. Iran is probably working on more advanced technology, but is not quite there yet. “I haven’t.”
Portnoy said Russia is another player in the arms race, especially given the major advances in Russia’s defense industry brought about by the current Russian war. Portnoy noted that Russia has developed and successfully used hypersonic and sub-hypersonic missile systems in conflicts, and those technologies are spilling over into conflicts in the Middle East.
“It is reported that additional Israeli air defense systems are currently being developed to counter hypersonic threats,” Portnoy said. “Currently, Israeli air defense systems take advantage of limited opportunities to intercept such targets under favorable conditions. According to reports, additional Israeli air defense system is under development.
Kobi Michael, a researcher at INSS and the Misghab Institute, said Israel should blockade Houthi-controlled areas to prevent them from receiving weapons from Iran.
Israel should continue to target them, focusing on critical civilian infrastructure such as airports, ports, and energy facilities.
“In addition to the blockade, Israel should focus on and continue to target critical civilian infrastructure such as airports, ports and energy facilities,” Michael told The Media Line. “This should be done in conjunction with a U.S.-led international coalition that will drag the Houthis into a war of attrition and impose heavy costs. This strategy will not only involve Israel, but also bring Israel closer to the root of the problem, Iran. The need to confront them will push the Houthis into a long and exhausting conflict.”
