ISRAEL deployed its Iron Sting and Arrow weapons systems on Hezbollah terrorists and Iran-backed rebels in Yemen in a brutal double strike.
The defensive attacks, spaced just hours apart, saw the IDF resort to two of its most powerful weapons systems to protect Israeli territory.
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The Arrow 3 “missile-killer” was unleashed for only the second time after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched a barrage of rockets at Israel.
And the IDF revealed it’s fighter jets had attacked Hezbollah terror bases in Lebanon, also using it’s Iron Sting system for just the second time.
The Arrow lethal long-range air defence system is able to intercept ballistic missiles from thousands of miles away and blast them out of the sky.
A rocket, shot by Houthi fighters, was intercepted near the Red Sea by IDF fighter jets using the “missile-killer”.
READ MORE ON ISRAEL HAMAS WAR
Israeli forces said: “A missile was detected that was launched into the territory of the State of Israel and was successfully intercepted in the Red Sea area, by the air defense fighters using the long-range defense system “Arrow”.
“The target did not cross into Israeli territory.”
A military spokesperson for Houthi on Thursday confirmed they had fired the barrage of ballistic missiles, including at some of the military bases.
One was in the coastal city of Eilat, which runs alongside the Red Sea where the rocket was shot down.
The IDF later said it used fighter jets to attack “terror bases” used by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
It said the “Iron Sting” weapons system, a laser and GPS-guided mortar, was used in retaliation to attacks on Israeli territory by Hezbollah.
Israel claimed to have used the formidable weapon, along with artillery fire, to blow up terrorist compounds and equipment.
Footage shared on the IDF’s Twitter page showed an enormous explosion, presumably one of the targets in Lebanon.
Israel’s Arrow 3 is thought to be the world’s first operational and stand-alone defence system that can be used against tactical ballistic missiles.
The powerful state-of-the-art piece of kit detects, tracks and then fires a hit-to-kill warhead to intercept the incoming missile.
It can cleanly blast the incoming warheads out of the sky, therefore preventing damage to buildings and civilians.
The fearsome anti-missile launcher can be used to defend Israel in conjunction with the “Iron Dome” – dubbed the “guardian of the skies” as well as the “Iron Sting” and “Iron Beam” weapons systems.
Israel unveiled the Iron Sting in October, launching its powerful mortar bomb and taking out a Hamas rocket launcher in its first operational use.
The high-tech piece of kit was unveiled in March 2021 – but only saw real combat this weekend.
The “Iron Sting” is specifically designed to strike targets in urban areas with frightening precision and 90 per cent accuracy.
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