UPDATE - Israel claims intercepting 3 drones from Yemen as sirens blare near nuclear facility

UPDATES WITH HOUTHI CONFIRMATION

By Abdel Raouf Arnaout and Betul Yilmaz

JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL (AA) – The Israeli army claimed Monday that it had intercepted three drones from Yemen, triggering sirens near a nuclear facility in southern Israel.

A military statement said that the drone attack triggered air-raid sirens in Negev in southern Israel.

According to Haaretz daily, sirens sounded near the Dimona nuclear facility in the Negev region after an unknown drone was detected.

The newspaper said another drone was intercepted near Ramon Airport in the south, a day after a Houthi drone hit the facility.

Israel’s public broadcaster KAN, however, said that sirens went off in the Dimona region due to a false alarm.

Yemen’s Houthi group confirmed the launch of three drones at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, Ramon Airport in Eilat and a “sensitive” site in Dimona in southern Israel.

The group said the drones hit their targets, framing the attack as a response to Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.

The Houthis have intensified missile and drone strikes on Israel since Israeli forces resumed attacks on the Gaza Strip in March after two months of a shaky ceasefire.

Last month, an Israeli airstrike in the Yemeni capital Sanaa killed 12 top Houthi officials, including Prime Minister Ahmed Ghalib Al-Rahawi and nine other ministers.

Since November 2023, the group has targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 64,500 victims have been killed in an Israeli genocide.