"Introduction to a broader campaign" .. American military website reveals the type of weapons used in the recent Israeli raids in Yemen

The American military website, War Zone , revealed the type of weapons used by the Israeli Air Force in its latest raids against the Houthis in Yemen.

The website said in a report translated by "Yemeni Youth Net", "It appears that one of the oldest and most modern Israeli missiles was at the forefront of a new round of long-range air strikes launched by the Israeli Air Force targeting the Houthis."

Israeli media reported that 14 Israeli Air Force aircraft were already in the air, as part of a pre-planned operation, while the Houthi missiles were still on their way in. The operation involved F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, supported by refueling and intelligence-gathering aircraft.

Videos and photos released by the Israeli military showed Israeli Air Force F-15 and F-16 jets leaving their bases to carry out the strikes. While the F-15s were armed with Popeye missiles, the F-16s were seen carrying the much more modern Rampage missiles.

Media reports from Israel indicate that the strike aircraft took off at around 1:00 a.m., with the first wave hitting the Yemeni coastal area at around 3:15 a.m., and the second wave hitting the Yemeni capital at around 4:30 a.m.

A graphic released by the Israeli military indicates that the package passed through Saudi airspace on its way to strike Yemen.

According to the report, the port facilities were chosen because they are used to offload Iranian weapons brought into Yemen to arm Houthi militants. Here, the Israeli occupation army claimed to have attacked “eight large private ships,” which could reportedly close access to the ports, even temporarily.

Regarding the weapons used by the Israeli Air Force in the raid, the F-15s were seen carrying the Popeye missile, also known as the AGM-142 in the United States. It is a solid-fuel weapon, less than 16 feet long, and weighs about 3,000 pounds at launch.

The Popeye missile has a range of about 50 miles and is armed with a high-explosive or penetrating warhead weighing about 800 pounds. It is now a fairly old weapon, having apparently begun work on it in the early 1980s and been introduced into service with the Israeli Air Force in 1986.

Popeye uses an inertial navigation system ( INS ) for midcourse guidance, before switching to a TV or infrared sensor for final guidance. It does this via a data link, allowing the missile to be controlled by a person in the loop for final targeting.

Popeye is typically controlled by a launch aircraft or other manned air asset from dozens of miles away, via a datalink pod that connects to the missile to establish a line-of-sight radio connection.

This allows the missile's flight path to be adjusted all the way to or very close to the point of impact, giving the missile extremely high levels of accuracy.

According to the website, the Popeye and Rampage aircraft are ideally suited to attacking highly protected targets from a distance without the need for major support packages traditionally required to enable such strikes, eliminating the risks inherent in launching such an operation deep in hostile airspace.

In general, it is worth noting that Israel now regularly highlights some of the munitions used in long-range strikes against Yemen and Iran, as well as short-range strikes in Lebanon.

This kind of overt messaging has been very rare in the past, and is designed to deliver specialized capabilities that have helped it carry out precision strikes against valuable targets even deep inside Iran, and at least so far, it does so with apparent impunity.

These Israeli air strikes are the third time that Yemen has been targeted since the start of the current war in the Middle East.

According to Israeli media reports, Washington was warned in advance of the Israeli airstrikes. The recent Israeli attacks on Yemen come on the heels of US airstrikes against Houthi targets in the same country, although these strikes have been more focused on Houthi weapons, including repelling militant attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

According to the report, the latest round of airstrikes, coupled with escalating Israeli rhetoric about subsequent strikes, suggests that more strikes may be coming in the future.

Time will tell whether we will see a wider campaign, but with Hamas and Hezbollah significantly degraded as fighting forces, and regime change in Syria, Israel certainly has a greater capacity to deal with the Houthis.