TEHRAN- The armed forces of the Ansarullah government in Yemen's capital Sana'a have claimed responsibility for a drone attack that struck a sensitive area in central Tel Aviv close to the U.S. embassy.

No air raid sirens sounded and the drone flew undetected. 

According to Israeli officials, an explosion at Ben Yehuda Street left one person dead and at least ten others injured. 

Israeli military officials have said the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) flew at a low altitude, from Yemen, bypassing air defense systems. 

According to Israeli media, the U.S. military intercepted four unmanned aircraft that were "on their way to Israel". 

An Israeli military spokesman said, "We're talking about a large UAV that can fly large distances."  

Reports say the blast rumbled through the streets causing shards of shrapnel to rain down and scattering broken glass across a large area. 

Footage captured on a phone camera clearly shows the Yemeni drone flying low over Tel Aviv and the moment it strikes its target. The magnitude of the blast indicates the drone was carrying a high level of explosives. 

A spokesman for the regime's emergency service, Magen David Adom, said the explosion reverberated to nearby cities. 

Ansarullah has announced that it used the newly developed Yafa drone to strike Tel Aviv in support of Gaza and has marked the city as a "primary target" for future operations. 

The Yemeni armed forces also declared Tel Aviv an "unsafe zone". 

The operation has raised serious questions among settlers and Israeli media about the effectiveness of the Israeli anti-air systems. 

An Israeli commentator said, "Good morning to the 100% right-wing government. It is a shame the drone did not hit one of your homes, maybe then you would be concerned about the citizens instead of yourselves!" 

In a statement, the Yemeni forces said the operation was waged "in support of the Palestinian people and their fighters, and in response to the Israeli aggression against our brothers in Gaza." 

Below is the statement in full: 

"The Yemeni Air Force, with the help of Allah, carried out a significant military operation. This operation involved targeting an important site in the occupied area of Yafa, known as Tel Aviv by the Israelis. 

The operation was executed using a new drone named Yaffa, which is capable of bypassing the enemy's defensive systems and evading radar detection. The operation successfully achieved its objectives. 

The Yemeni Armed Forces declare that the occupied Yaffa area is now considered an unsafe zone and will be a primary target for our weapons. We will focus on targeting the internal front of the Zionist enemy and reaching deep into their territory. 

In announcing this operation, the Yemeni Armed Forces affirm their possession of a target bank within occupied Palestine, including sensitive military and security targets. They will, with Allah's help, continue to strike these targets in response to the enemy’s massacres and daily crimes against our brothers in Gaza. 

The Yemeni Armed Forces' operations will continue to support the heroic fighters in Gaza, who defend our Arab and Islamic nations and their people. These operations will only cease with the end of aggression and the lifting of the siege on the Palestinian people in Gaza."

 “Painful cost”

Meanwhile, the Hebrew language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth cited an eyewitness as saying, "You are in Tel Aviv and think everything is fine, then you see something coming towards you quickly and exploding. It's frightening, unnatural, and you have to deal with the situation somehow. We don’t understand why no sirens were activated." 

Yedioth Ahronoth quoted another eyewitness who said, "There hasn’t been such a feeling here for a long time, but this is what happens in the north daily, so it came to us this time." 

Later on Friday, Israeli media reported about a second explosion in Tel Aviv's Yosef Ziman Street. The blast is said to have left casualties.

The military correspondent for the Walla Hebrew website highlighted that the "Israeli Air Force was surprised on October 7. After more than nine months of intense conflict. Were they surprised again? This issue needs a thorough investigation. How long have we been sleeping on our toes and for what scenarios have we prepared?" 

Knesset member Gideon Sa'ar said, "What happened early this morning in Tel Aviv is a serious malfunction, came at a painful cost". 

Amid the trickle of information released by the regime's military, Israeli media said, "The most alarming aspect of the Tel Aviv drone explosion is that the army does not know what happened after seven hours, or it does not want to disclose it." 

Other reports pointed out that the blast at a high-security area has left people in Tel Aviv worried and anxious about the possibility of future operations and where those drones can potentially land. 

Experts believe it is a major blow for the Israeli government and military, with much wider implications than the damage or loss of life. 

Serving as the Israeli economic hub, Tel Aviv has been subject to an attack that will alarm investors but more importantly demonstrates, once again, how vulnerable the Israelis are to a long-range drone offensive. 

"A new heroic operation"

Later on Friday, Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that based on initial assessments the drone was launched from Yemen. 

Hagari did not rule out the possibility of an attack against Yemen, adding the drone launched by Ansarullah's armed forces made its way to Tel Aviv via the sea and claimed it is of the "Sammad 3" model. 

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement has praised Ansarullah for "a new heroic operation", saying the Palestinians appreciated the "steadfast" support of Gaza. 

“We affirm that what Yemen and the rest of the parties to the axis of resistance are doing is the most honorable military intervention to support the oppressed and stop the Zionist injustice."

The group added that the international community "conspires with the criminal Zionist entity against our people, justifying its crimes and providing it with international cover to continue the genocide in the Gaza Strip". 

"We call on all resistance forces in our nation to escalate all kinds of pressure, especially military pressure, against the Zionist enemy, and also to put pressure on their American supporters until the crimes of genocide in Gaza are stopped," the group added. 

Hamas lauds attack on Israel’s “symbol of pride”

Hamas said in a statement that its members “highly appreciate and commend” the drone attack on Tel Aviv by Yemen’s Ansarullah, targeting the depths of the “symbol of pride” of Israel.
The resistance group said such attacks are “a legitimate right of our nation’s resistance and its people” to confront Israel’s expanding occupation in the region.

Islamic Jihad calls drone attack “heroic”
 
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad said in a statement that the Tel Aviv attack was a “bold operation” carried out by the “heroic” Yemeni fighters.
It added, “This operation is a natural response to the ongoing genocide war against our people and the war crimes that the enemy continues to commit, supported by the Biden administration and Western governments.”

“Qualitative shift in responses of the resistance fronts"

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine also praised the operation, stating that the support fronts in Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq "fulfilled their promises and expanded their responses to the escalation of Zionist massacres in the Gaza Strip," and are "ready to continue these qualitative operations if the aggression persists." 

The Popular Front added that this operation "marks a qualitative shift in the responses of the supporting resistance fronts," noting that it demonstrates the ability of the Yemeni armed forces to penetrate deep into Israeli territory, and "reveals the collapse of the Israeli deterrence system and the occupation's failure to provide security for its deteriorating entity." 

In a statement, the Front also noted that this operation "sent clear messages to the cowardly occupation leaders that the entire Zionist entity is now within the range of resistance and support front strikes, and that there is no safe place for the Zionists anywhere." 

The Front emphasized that "the success of the [anti-Israeli] resistance in penetrating the Zionist system confirms that America and its allies are unable to protect the Zionist entity from painful blows." 

Lebanon's Hezbollah also praised the operation as "a triumph for the oppression of the Palestinian people and their resistance." 

Hezbollah added that Yemen is supporting "the heroic" Palestinians in Gaza who are defending "all our people and countries of our Arab and Islamic nations". 

The Lebanese resistance movement added that the fight will not end until "the aggression and the siege of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip ends".