New Houthi missile? ‘Israel’ suspects cluster warhead used in latest attack from Yemen

The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) is investigating whether a recent missile launched from Yemen by the Houthis was equipped with a cluster warhead, a type of munition previously used by Iran in an attack on ‘Israel’.

The suspicion arose after a missile targeting central Israel on a recent Friday night broke apart in mid-air, raining fragments down on residential areas.

Military and intelligence officials are now examining the recovered debris to determine if it consists of submunitions, each with its own warhead.

According to the IOF, this is the first time they have faced this specific type of weapon on the ground outside of a direct Iranian attack.

The Houthi group claimed the attack was carried out using a new-generation "Palestine 2" hypersonic ballistic missile, asserting it bypassed ‘Israeli’ air defenses.

However, the IOF notes that the in-flight fragmentation behavior is consistent with a cluster warhead, not the single warhead of a typical ballistic missile.

This incident is similar to the large-scale Iranian attacks in the June war, during which Iran fired ballistic missiles carrying cluster warheads at ‘Israeli’ settlements, including Beersheba and Rishon LeZion.

These warheads opened in mid-air, dispersing dozens of smaller bomblets over a wide radius.

Analysts have identified the Iranian Khorramshahr-4 as a known platform for this technology, which is designed to saturate a broad area with explosives rather than strike a single point.

Since 2014, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force has supplied the Houthis with a growing arsenal of advanced weapons, including ballistic missile components and drones.