Israel dwarfed by Ansarullahs affordable abundant arsenal

Israel dwarfed by Ansarullah’s affordable, abundant arsenal

TEHRAN - The Tel Aviv regime is making desperate attempts to deter Yemen’s Ansarullah movement from launching missile and drone attacks toward targets inside Israel.

Shortly after Israel launched its war of genocide on Gaza in October last year, the Yemeni army began to hit strategic and military locations in Israeli cities in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people. 

In recent weeks, the Yemeni army has stepped up attacks on Israel firing projectiles, including hypersonic missiles which have forced millions of people to rush to bomb shelters.

Ansarullah has vowed to continue military strikes until Israel stops its genocidal war in Gaza. 

Israel has also intensified strikes in Yemen. 

An Israeli strike hit the international airport in the capital Sanaa on Thursday just as the head of the World Health Organization was about to board a flight there.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X that he was just meters away from the attack, which killed at least three people at the airport, according to local media, and injured a World Food Program-contracted aircrew member among dozens of others. 

In response, the Yemeni army attacked the airport in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv. It fired a missile at Ben Gurion airport and launched drones at Tel Aviv as well as a ship in the Arabian Sea.

Israel has carried out four rounds of airstrikes against Yemen since July. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war minister Israel Katz have vowed to crush the Ansarullah movement.  

The US and UK have also carried out airstrikes in Yemen in response to Ansarullah’s attacks on Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea. 

But such attacks have so far failed to stop the Yemeni army from targeting Israel for a number of reasons. 

First of all, Yemen is more than 1,000 miles away from Israel. It is almost impossible for Israel to incapacitate the Ansarullah movement whose positions are located in a mountainous country.

Second, the Yemeni army has successfully developed indigenous missiles, drones, and various other weaponry. Should Israel strike the military assets of the resistance movement, it would have the capacity to restock its supplies.

Third, the Yemeni army's drones and missiles are priced at several thousand dollars each, whereas the cost for Israel to intercept them amounts to tens of thousands of dollars per interception. Ansarullah's drones and missiles are successfully bypassing Israel's previously esteemed air defense systems. This has thrown a spotlight on Israel's ongoing military challenge: finding a way to overcome an adversary equipped with a more affordable and significantly larger arsenal of weaponry.

For now, Israel’s plan to stop Yemen from launching attacks is like a flight of fancy. This is because the US and UK, Israel’s main supporters, have failed to deter the Yemeni army through military action. It appears that these two Western countries are retracting and possibly conserving their missile and drone interception capabilities. The shortage of interceptors will make it impossible for Israel and its Western allies to engage into a war of attrition with the Yemeni army. 

Besides, the United States was Saudi Arabia’s main supporter when it launched war on Yemen in 2015. But Washington and Riyadh failed to bring Ansarullah to its knees through extensive bombing campaigns. 

Above all, Katz has warned that Israel would "hunt down all the Houthi leaders", as it had done with the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.

Reports suggest that Israeli spy agencies penetrated Hezbollah and Hamas movements, which provided an opportunity for the regime to assassinate resistance leaders and commanders. 

 It is quite challenging for Israel to consider a similar scenario in Yemen.  The considerable distance between Israel and Yemen, coupled with the strong allegiance of Yemeni tribes to Ansarullah, complicates matters significantly. Consequently, Israel's attempts to penetrate the Ansarullah movement are likely to be exceedingly difficult.
 

source: tehrantimes.com