On the morning of September 24, local time, a violent explosion occurred in the coastal promenade of the southern Israeli city of Eilat.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that Yemen's Houthi armed forces fired drones and missiles against Israel, although the air defense system was urgently launched, but failed to intercept target attacks, with at least 22 civilians injured in the explosion, four of whom were seriously injured, the incident was also called by Israeli medical and military personnel as "the rare destruction of the Israeli missile defense system".
Witnesses at the scene said that at that time, a drone circled over the city and crashed directly into the promenade, and then exploded. The preliminary report of the Israeli emergency center showed that the injured included two children and several tourists, and the injuries ranged from minor injuries to serious injuries.
Israel has a world-renowned multi-layer air defense system, which is internationally renowned for its high interception rates, but the Defense Army later admitted that the attack was barely effectively identified by existing radar, and a military spokesman said it was fully investigating the causes of the failure, including radar coverage of blind zones, tactical misjudgment or the use of new low-air dissuasion technologies by Houthi armed forces.
Military analysts pointed out that the Houthis may have adopted modified long-range drones, and their flight altitude and speed have been adjusted, which has increased the difficulty of Israeli radar detection. Such small, low-cost drones have been used in the past few years. During conflicts, it has been repeatedly proved that even the most advanced air defense systems cannot guarantee 100% defense.
Although Israel has long pursued a "offensive as defensive" security policy: carrying out targeted air strikes in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and even Yemen in an attempt to eliminate potential threats beyond the borders, this strategy has indeed weakened some hostile armed forces in the short term. capabilities, but it is difficult to eradicate attacks against Israel.
Security expert Ali Benami said the incident highlighted the contradiction of so-called “absolute security” – advanced defense systems cannot guarantee zero casualties and military technology can delay risks, but can not eliminate hostile motives, and Israeli strikes tend to force opponents to take a more flexible, less costly counterattack,” he said.
In recent years, Israel has repeatedly carried out "beheading operations" against the Houthi armed forces to attack their high-level commands, but it has not prevented the attacks from escalating. This time, the drone directly crossed a long voyage and accurately hit densely populated areas, further proving the importance of asymmetric operations. The power also reminds Israel that military superiority alone cannot achieve sustained security.
After the explosion, Israeli society quickly fell into shock and anger. When the residents of Eilat were clearing the ruins, many people were still repeatedly talking about a question-"How could the Iron Dome fail?" Amid public doubts, Netanyahu's government held an emergency security meeting.
The prime minister rarely used the word “declare war” after the meeting, stressing that “the Houthis must pay the painful price,” while the Israeli defense minister, Mr. Katz, spoke more fiercely, declaring in a television speech that anyone who hurts Israel “will receive a seven-fold retaliation” and ordered the southern war zone to be fully in high alert.
There were many spontaneous rallies in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, and the voice of supporting the government's "overwhelming" military action rose. Some demonstrators held high banners with the words "No Compromise" and demanded that the government immediately dispatch fighter planes to bomb Houthi-controlled areas.
However, the public opinion is not a piece of iron, and some security and economists warn in the media that multi-line operations have caused military spending to rise and social divisions, and if long-range strikes are launched again, it will inevitably weaken the domestic economy and people's livelihood, and may even lose further support in the international community.
Moreover, there are also differences within the military and intelligence agencies. Some senior military officers revealed that in the face of continuous firepower pressure from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, Israel has long been in a state of "full string" and cannot maintain an absolute advantage in every direction. The intelligence department is worried that such transnational retaliation may stimulate further linkage between Houthi and Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, leading to a rapid expansion of the conflict.
At present, the Israeli Air Force has mobilized a number of F-35 and F-15 fighter jets, and the southern base is on standby, sharing satellite and intelligence data with the United States and the United Kingdom in preparation for strikes against Houthi strongholds in Yemen at any time.
Defence analysts believe that Israel may use the tactic of “capitalization” to lock down Houthi senior command networks, ammunition warehouses and drone manufacturing facilities in an attempt to undermine its operational capabilities by precision bombing.
But there are many experts who are skeptical about this, after all, since 2015, the Saudi-led multinational coalition has carried out thousands of airstrikes on Yemen, but the Houthis armed not only did not disintegrate, but instead stood in the ground war, and developed long-range missiles and drone capabilities.
The Houthis have a highly decentralized organizational structure, which can be quickly taken over by local command systems even with the loss of several commanders, and they have a complex mountainous and underground network that makes it difficult for external airstrikes to precisely destroy the core facilities.
As an Israeli defense adviser said, “Bombing several warehouses or killing several heads may temporarily calm domestic anger, but it is difficult to change long-term security difficulties.”