Click to see full-size image. (The Houthis’ Military Media)
Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah) has unveiled the Yafa long-range suicide drone used in the July 19 deadly strike on the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
A video released by the group on July 23 showed the drone decorated with the Palestinian flag. The video also included footage showing the moment the drone was launched at Tel Aviv. A man was killed and at least eight others were wounded as a result of the strike.
Yafa appears to be a larger version of an Iranian drone codenamed by the United States military and intelligence as KAS-04. The Houthis have been operating several versions of the KAS-04 dubbed Samad-1, 2, 3 and 4 for more than six years now.
The new drone is estimated to have a range of more than 2,000 kilometers. The Houthis claim that the drone is equipped with special systems to deceive and jam enemy radars and air defenses. However, this is yet to be verified.
Israel responded to the drone strike by bombing fuel depots, energy facilities and other infrastructure at the Houthi-held al-Hodeida port in western Yemen on July 20. The attack claimed the lives of six people and left more than 80 others wounded.
In an initial response to the Israeli strikes, the Houthis announced on July 21 that they had fired multiple ballistic missiles at Eilat and struck the American-owned merchant vessel Pumba in the Red Sea. The group however warned that its main response is yet to come.
The Houthis over the last nine months have fired from Yemen more than 220 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and suicide drones at Israel, mostly toward Eilat, in response to the Israeli war on the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli military.
During the same period, the Iran-backed group targeted dozens of vessels affiliated with Israel or owned by the U.S. and the United Kingdom in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Six American-made combat drones were also shot down by Houthi air defenses over Yemen and nearby waters.
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