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Iran Using Houthis’ Yemen as Weapons ‘Testing Ground’
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
JNS.org – Israeli air defense officials are reviewing the performance of Air Force detection and interception capabilities on Sunday, hours after the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen fired a surface-to-surface missile that set off sirens across central Israel.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, at 6:21 on Sunday morning, the missile was launched from Yemen towards Israeli territory, and it likely fragmented mid-air, according to preliminary findings.
The attack triggered several interception attempts by Israel’s Arrow and Iron Dome defense systems, the IDF said. These attempts, and the effectiveness of the interceptions, are under review. Warning sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol.
IDF Lt. Col. (res.) Michael Segal, an expert on Iranian strategic issues who is today chief information officer at the Tel Aviv-based Acumen Risk intelligence and risk management consultancy, told JNS that in recent years, Yemen has served as Iran’s largest testing ground for various types of weapons.
“During the Saudi coalition’s operations in Yemen, following the Houthi takeover of parts of the country during the Arab Spring, the Houthis fired a wide range of missiles, drones, and rockets at strategic sites in Saudi Arabia, including oil facilities and airports. Yemen, where active fighting continues in various regions, offers Iran an opportunity to test a variety of weapons, from roadside bombs, sniper rifles and anti-tank weapons to ballistic missiles and drones,” Segal said.
“These weapons are transferred to the Houthis either as complete systems or in parts and are assembled in Yemen,” he continued.
Since early September, the Houthis have downed two American MQ-9 Reaper drones, likely using Iranian 358 surface-to-air missiles, which are also likely in the possession of Hezbollah in Lebanon and pro-Iran militias in Iraq.
Iran’s strategy of integrating the Houthis into the “axis of resistance” proved successful after Hamas’s Oct. 7 mass murder attack, when the Houthis joined the campaign in the Red Sea, disrupting Israeli shipping routes and severely damaging Egypt’s revenue from the Suez Canal, Segal noted.
In August, a Houthi drone expert, Hussein Mastour al-Shabeel, was killed in a U.S. strike on the Kata’ib Hezbollah Shi’ite militia in Iraq, a reminder that Iran is transferring information via its proxies from one arena to the other, through trainers, he added. This knowledge transfer includes long-range missiles, Segal said, including the past use of Hezbollah trainers in Yemen.
Underpinning this strategy is a fanatical Iranian religious ideology, expressed recently by the commander of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, who stated during a ceremony of the Iranian military, “We have come to prepare the Earth for the reappearance of Imam Mahdi,” according to the Iran Dossier website.
This messianic Shi’ite Islamist vision has been defined by Iranian officials as the goal of the Islamic Revolution, and used to justify aggression and proxy-building throughout the Middle East.
‘Fight to the last Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni, Iraqi‘
“I would argue that Iran’s long-term strategy, similar to its approach in Lebanon, Iraq, Gaza and Judea and Samaria, has successfully encircled Israel and kept it occupied on multiple fronts, all without Iran itself paying any direct price. Iran’s rationale is to push conflicts away from its borders and avoid involvement unless necessary—thus far, Iran has not responded to the assassination of Haniyeh on its soil,” said Segal.
“In essence, Iran is willing to fight to the last Palestinian, Lebanese, Yemeni and Iraqi. If Israel and the West seek long-term stability in the region, they must remove Iran from the equation, primarily by posing a direct threat to Iran and its leader, [Ali] Khamenei, personally,” he added.
Sunday’s missile attack led to debris from the interceptors falling in open areas, with fragments landing at the Paatei Modi’in Railway Station, west of Jerusalem. Additionally, a fire broke out near Moshav Kfar Daniel, with Israel Fire and Rescue Service crews arriving to contain and extinguish the flames.
The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, claimed responsibility for the attack. According to Israel’s Army Radio, Saree said the missile was a hypersonic ballistic projectile capable of reaching a range of 2,040 kilometers (1,268 miles) in 11.5 minutes. He described the strike as part of the fifth escalation phase in the Houthi campaign against Israel.
A hypersonic missile is usually defined as a weapon capable of traveling at least Mach 5 or faster (five times the speed of sound)—a speed that can be matched by existing ballistic missiles. The difference is in the ability of hypersonic missiles to maneuver within the atmosphere after they re-enter it from space, according to the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
No indication they reached the testing stage
Uzi Rubi, founder and first director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization in the Defense Ministry, who played a key role in the development of the first Arrow missile defense program, expressed skepticism about claims that Sunday’s missile was hypersonic.
He noted that while Iran has announced its intentions to develop such weapons, there is no indication that they have reached the testing stage. Rubin, a senior research associate at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, assessed that the missile’s flight time matched that of a conventional ballistic missile.
“There is no doubt that the Iranians provided the Houthis with a version that is a little longer in range than the Qader missiles, which the Houthis have been using to attack Eilat until now,” he said.
In an analysis published at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in June, Rubin noted that the Ghader missile is a “more advanced version of the famous Iranian missile, Shahab 3,” which itself is a North Korean design that is manufactured under license in Iran.
He noted that Iranians have delivered Ghader missiles to “their Houthi allies in Yemen,” who used them to target Eilat six to seven times between October 2023 and June 2024. The Ghader’s accuracy is not very high, he said, and it is more suited for targeting population centers than precise facilities.
The Houthis have fired more than 200 projectiles at Israel since Hamas’s attack on Oct. 7, according to IDF assessments. The Iranian-backed terrorists in Yemen also declared a maritime siege on Israel and parts of the Middle East, and attacked dozens of vessels from around the world, sinking some and disrupting the global economy.
The IDF is investigating its air defense performance. It declined to comment further on the incident.
Army Radio reported that since the start of the war, the Arrow system has intercepted numerous ballistic missiles, with a near-perfect success rate. This includes previous Houthi-launched ballistic missiles and the Iranian missile barrage on April 14.
On July 19, the Israeli Air Force targeted the Houthi-controlled fuel port of Hudeidah in “Operation Long Arm,” which involved fighter jets flying the same distance needed to hit Iran and striking port infrastructure used for terror activity, after which the Houthis vowed retaliation. The IAF attack came a day after the Houthis fired an Iranian-made Samad 3 suicide unmanned aerial vehicle at Tel Aviv, killing a civilian and injuring several others.
In April, a cruise missile fired from Yemen exploded north of Eilat,
This latest incident underscores the complex challenges Israel faces as it continues to defend itself against a multi-front war, addressing threats from both regional actors and distant adversaries like the Iran-backed Houthis. With the investigation underway, Israeli officials are reassessing the effectiveness of their missile defense systems in the face of evolving missile threats.
The post Iran Using Houthis’ Yemen as Weapons ‘Testing Ground’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Al Jazeera Hit With Defamation Lawsuit by Syrian Jewish Ex-Refugee
The Al Jazeera Media Network logo is seen on its headquarters building in Doha, Qatar, June 8, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon
A defamation lawsuit was filed against the Qatar-based Al Jazeera media network on Wednesday by Abraham Hamra, a Syrian pro-Israel advocate and lawyer.
According to the lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Hamra “is a Jewish refugee from Syria, born in Damascus. He fled Syria with his parents and siblings in 1994 at the age of eight, following the partial lifting of restrictions on Jewish emigration by the Syrian regime under President Hafez al-Assad in 1992.”
The Algemeiner obtained a copy of the complaint, which explains that, on Aug. 25, Al Jazeera posted a video claiming that Hamra was paid by the Israeli government to visit an aid site of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an Israel- and US-backed program that delivers aid directly to Palestinians, operating independently from UN-backed mechanisms.
“This accusation is false in its entirety. Plaintiff has never received any payment, compensation, or financial incentive from the Israeli government or any affiliated entity for visiting aid sites in Gaza,” the lawsuit claims.
“The visit by Plaintiff related to Israel and Gaza was undertaken independently, in his personal capacity, on his own dime, as an advocate for his community and to bear witness against misinformation,” the suit continues.
The UN and critics of Israel have expressed concerns that the GHF’s approach forces civilians to risk their safety by traveling long distances across active conflict zones to reach one of its four food distribution points, at times creating chaotic scenes where Israeli forces have used gunfire to control the crowd.
However, supporters of the GHF argue that it bypasses the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which often steals humanitarian supplies for its own purposes and sells the rest at inflated prices. The GHF has called on the UN to publicly condemn the killing of aid workers in Gaza and to collaborate in order to provide relief to the enclave’s population, accusing the UN of perpetuating a “vast disinformation campaign” aimed at tarnishing the foundation’s image.
The lawsuit notes that the social media post from Al Jazeera, which included the image of Hamra, “cites no sources for the ‘reportedly paid’ claim, and publicly available information about Plaintiff, including his professional bio, social media posts, and known activities, demonstrates he is an independent US attorney with no financial ties to foreign governments.”
Al Jazeera also “failed to conduct even basic fact-checking, such as contacting Plaintiff for comment or verifying the allegation, despite their status as a major media network with resources to do so,” according to the lawsuit.
Al Jazeera did not respond to a request for comment from The Algemeiner.
The lawsuit argues why the allegedly false claim rises to the level of libel, saying it “constitutes libel per se under New York law because it accuses Plaintiff of committing a serious crime, namely, violating FARA [the Foreign Agents Registration Act] by acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Israel, and tends to injure him in his profession as a lawyer.”
“FARA requires individuals acting as agents of foreign principals to register with the US Department of Justice, and failure to do so is a federal offense punishable by fines and imprisonment,” the suit says. “By falsely alleging Plaintiff was paid by a foreign government to promote its interests, the statement implies criminal conduct and undermines his professional integrity.”
Consequently, Hamra is seeking payment for damages of at least $1,00,000 and requesting a trial by jury.
Read the lawsuit here: Hamra v Al Jazeera ECF No. 1 Complaint
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US Lawmakers Launch Investigation Into Wikipedia Over Claims of Systemic Anti-Israel Bias
US Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). Photo: Reuters
The US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has opened an investigation into the nonprofit that operates the Wikipedia website, demanding answers over concerns that hostile foreign actors are exploiting the popular online encyclopedia to spread anti-Israel propaganda and antisemitic narratives.
Republican Reps James Comer (KY), who chairs the committee, and Nancy Mace (SC), who chairs the panel’s subcommittee on cybersecurity, information technology, and government innovation, on Wednesday sent a letter to Maryana Iskander, chief executive of the Wikimedia Foundation, asking the nonprofit to turn over records showing how the platform polices disinformation campaigns that target articles related to Israel and the Middle East.
The lawmakers cited studies showing that pro-Russia networks and other state-backed operations have sought to manipulate Wikipedia entries on conflicts involving Israel, often by inserting anti-Israel or antisemitic framing designed to sway Western audiences. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), for example, published a report earlier this year arguing that “malicious” Wikipedia editors have inserted anti-Israel bias onto the site, oftentimes violating the organization’s neutrality policies in the process.
Meanwhile, a report from the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab found evidence of Russian-linked attempts to shape narratives used to train AI chatbots by twisting information about Israel.
“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating the efforts of foreign operations and individuals at academic institutions subsidized by US taxpayer dollars to influence US public opinion,” Comer and Mace wrote. They emphasized the importance of stopping organized attempts to “inject bias into important and sensitive topics.”
Specifically, the committee is demanding records on possible coordination by nation-states or academic institutions to influence Wikipedia pages, internal arbitration files documenting how the site has handled editor misconduct, identifying data for accounts flagged for suspicious activity, and any analysis showing patterns of manipulation tied to antisemitism or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The letter also requests details of Wikipedia’s editorial policies to ensure neutrality and prevent the spread of bias.
Although the committee acknowledged that most online platforms face disinformation threats, the letter stressed that Wikipedia’s outsized influence as one of the most visited websites in the world and a key training source for artificial intelligence systems makes it especially important to prevent anti-Israel narratives from taking root unchecked.
The Wikimedia Foundation has previously stated that it takes action against volunteer editors who violate neutrality rules, but lawmakers say further transparency is needed to guarantee accountability.
However, a detailed investigation by Pirate Wires in October 2024 revealed that a powerful group of roughly 40 Wikipedia editors coordinated to “delegitimize Israel, present radical Islamist groups in a favorable light, and reshape the narrative around Israel with alarming influence,” particularly after the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Notably, one editor removed mention of Hamas’s 1988 charter, which calls for the killing of Jews and the destruction of Israel, from the Hamas article just six weeks after the attack. The group also reportedly sought to suppress documented human-rights abuses by Iran, and a related effort by a Discord-based collective known as “Tech For Palestine” coordinated mass editing of articles related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
According to a report by the Jewish Journal, Wikipedia’s arbitration committee (ArbCom) permanently banned two editors outright for engaging in off-platform coordination tied to the “Tech for Palestine” Discord campaign, citing violations of policies. Additionally, the committee imposed indefinite topic bans on eight editors in the Israeli-Palestinian area for disruptive behavior such as non-neutral editing, personal insults, and misrepresentation of sources. In December 2024, ArbCom permanently banned two anti-Israel editors and placed restrictions on three others for violation of site policies in the Israeli-Palestinian topic area.
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Tunisian Brothers to Face Trial for Cutting Down Olive Tree Honoring Murdered Jew Ilan Halimi in France
A crowd gathers at the Jardin Ilan Halimi in Paris on Feb. 14, 2021, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Halimi’s kidnapping and murder. Photo: Reuters/Xose Bouzas/Hans Lucas
Two Tunisian twin brothers have been arrested in France after allegedly cutting down an olive tree that had been planted to honor Ilan Halimi, a young French Jewish man tortured to death nearly a decade ago.
According to the Bobigny prosecutor’s office, two 19-year-old undocumented men with prior convictions for theft and violence were arrested for vandalizing Halimi’s memorial in the northern Paris suburb of Épinay-sur-Seine.
Both brothers appeared in criminal court on Wednesday and were remanded in custody pending their trial, scheduled for Oct. 22.
They will face trial on charges of “aggravated destruction of property” and “desecration of a monument dedicated to the memory of the dead on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion,” offenses that, according to prosecutors, carry a sentence of up to two years in prison.
Both suspects were taken into custody around noon on Monday while returning to the crime scene, French media reported.
Investigators tracked them down after discovering two slices of watermelon left by the perpetrators at the base of the olive tree, which contained their DNA.
Halimi was abducted, held captive, and tortured in January 2006 by a gang of about 20 people in a low-income housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux.
Three weeks later, Halimi was found in Essonne, south of Paris, naked, gagged, and handcuffed, with clear signs of torture and burns. The 23-year-old died on the way to the hospital.
In 2011, an olive tree was planted in Halimi’s memory. Earlier this month, the memorial was found felled — probably with a chainsaw — in the northern Paris suburb of Epinay-sur-Seine.
Halimi’s memory has faced attacks before, with two other trees planted in his honor vandalized in 2019 in Essonne, where he was found dying near a railway track.
Hervé Chevreau, the mayor of Épinay, announced that a new memorial tree will be planted in the second half of September.
After the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the incident, vowing that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.
“Felling the tree in honor of Ilan Halimi is a second attempt on his life,” the French leader said in a post on X.
Halimi’s sister, Anne-Laure Abitbol, also condemned the incident, warning that public denunciations are no longer enough and calling for concrete action.
“In France, we are no longer safe, neither alive nor dead,” Abitbol told RTL in an interview.
“I feel less safe in France,” she said. “By recognizing a Palestinian state, Macron is encouraging antisemitism and failing to take action against antisemitic attacks in the country.”
Last month, Macron announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September as part of its “commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
Israeli officials have criticized the move, which was followed by several other Western countries, calling it a “reward for terrorism.”
France’s Jewish community has faced a troubling surge in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel sentiment since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jewish leaders have consistently called on authorities to take swift action against the rising wave of targeted attacks and anti-Jewish hate crimes they continue to face.
According to the French Interior Ministry, 646 antisemitic incidents were recorded from January to June this year — a drop from the previous year’s first-half record high but a 112.5 percent increase compared with the same period in 2023, when 304 incidents were reported.