The same Houthi rebels from Yemen that continue to attack shipping vessels in the Red Sea now claim that they have successfully tested their first hypersonic missile. The terrorist organization then touted that the group could eventually use the missiles against Israel.
The Houthis further claim that the missiles would also easily be able to reach the Jewish state. Missiles are dubbed hypersonic and can travel at a speed of Mach 5 or higher.
According to a report by ZeroHedge, the Yemeni rebel group backed by Iran claimed that the missile it tested can travel at eight times the speed of sound. “Missile forces of the movement have successfully tested a missile that can reach speeds of up to Mach 8 [6,200 miles per hour] and is powered by solid fuel,” a Houthis spokesman told Sputnik. Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency also initially reported the claim.
Yemen’s Houthis test-fired hypersonic missile, says military source
Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, has carried out a test flight of a hypersonic missile with high destructive capability and is preparing to add these missiles to its military arsenal, a…
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 14, 2024
The Associated Press had speculated that the Houthis adding hypersonic missiles to their arsenal is the ‘surprise’ which was previewed by a spokesman last month:
“Yemen plans to begin manufacturing it for use in attacks in the Red and Arabian Seas and the Gulf of Aden, as well as against targets in Israel,” the statement threatened. At those speeds, inbound missiles become much harder for conventional anti-air systems to defend against.
As ZeroHedge reported, clearly the Houthi arsenal is expanding, and Washington has long accused Tehran of being behind it, a charge which stretches back years. Their drone arsenal is also growing more sophisticated.
Just last year, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is widely believed to be on the ground in Yemen currently, unveiled its hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile called the Fattah II.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has said that the reports that the Houthis have been successfully testing a hypersonic missile are “inaccurate.” In remarks to Newsweek by the CENTCOM spokesperson, Deputy Defense Secretary Sabrina Singh branded the report of Ansar Allah’s hypersonic breakthrough “inaccurate” and said that “we have no indication that they even have that capability” during a press briefing Thursday.
White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Director John Kirby offered a similar response during a separate press conference that same day. “Those reports are inaccurate,” Kirby said. “There’s absolutely no indication that the Houthis have access to a hypersonic weapon. So, I can walk you off of that,” Kirby said.
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