Sheba Intelligence has tracked ten Houthi ballistic missiles that have been fired towards Eilat in southern Israel since the Houthi movement chief announced on October 11 his intention to get involved in the Gaza-Israel war.
The Houthi group launched the missiles from four separate centers. The drones preceded the missiles to try to identify the targets. However, the Houthi missiles have not caused enormous damage or reached their destinations. Therefore, it can be said the missiles were lost in the sea. The Egyptian authorities declared on October 28 damage due to the fall of drones in Taba and Nuweiba towns. That seemed to be the only damage by the Houthi drones.
The most crucial center from which the missiles were fired was Al-Hudaydah on the Red Sea, from which three missiles were launched. One was fired from the Al-Luhaya district, the second from the Bajel district, and the third from Ras Issa.
Three missiles were launched from Al-Hazm of Al-Jawaf province, and two missiles were fired from Saada province, which borders Saudi Arabia. Moreover, two missiles were launched from Abs and Al-Harajah areas in Hajjah province.
Speaking to Sheba Intelligence, a military expert in the field of missiles ruled out the ability of the Yemeni missiles owned by the Houthis to reach Israel unless they were modified and upgraded.
He said, “By calculating the distance between 1,600 and 2,000 km between Yemen and Israel, the missile needs between 14-18 minutes to arrive, and this can be done with a modified Iranian missile.”
Sheba Intelligence will publish a detailed investigation of the ballistic missiles that the Houthis possessed when they took over the state arsenal when they seized Sanaa in 2014.
The military expert said that the absence of any debris from the missiles and drones launched by the Houthis toward Israel indicates that they fell into the sea, which confirms that they did not achieve their goal, which makes them lose their effectiveness in achieving a balance in the war.
He attributed this matter to two reasons: the first may be a technical problem related to an internal problem in the missile, either due to poor quality missile fuel or a software glitch, and the second may be the failure of the drones to reach the target and send accurate coordinates to the missiles.
He added that the drones cannot send accurate coordinates because there is no ground station, which should be 250 km from the target to give the missile precise coordinates.
The expert pointed out that Iranian ships are roaming the northern Red Sea and are capable of assisting the Houthi missiles in reaching their targets by linking the drones to the Iranian ground stations. However, he said, “It appears that Iran has not yet decided to participate in the war or provide logistical support to its allies in the Gaza war.”