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Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-811225
How the Houthi Drone Struck Tel Aviv
(Jerusalem Post) Yonah Jeremy Bob - The IDF on Sunday revealed how the Houthi drone traveled 2,600 km. - although Yemen is 1,800 km. from Israel - flew for 16 hours and penetrated Israel's air defense system on Friday. The drone left Yemen, flying west toward Sudan. It then turned north, flying through Sudan and Egypt, then continued over the Mediterranean Sea. It then traveled east to strike Tel Aviv. The IDF said the reason for the failure was human error - failure to flag a blip on the radar screen as dangerous. The IDF is doubling the number of radar operators so that at least two sets of eyes would be watching, which should double the chance of properly identifying these threats. When the drone was only five minutes away, the air defense and warning systems finally recognized it as a threat. The IDF said it has succeeded in shooting down the vast majority of the 1,000 drones sent against it from several distinct fronts throughout the nine-month war, but even its multi-tiered air defense is not hermetic. Israel shot down 40 out of 50 Hamas drones and dozens from Yemen, while the U.S. shot down most of the remaining 300 drones sent by the Houthis to attack Israel. Israel has successfully shot down 80 out of 200 Iranian drones, while the U.S. has shot down most others or caused them to crash prematurely. Yet on the Lebanon-Syria front, it has only shot down 150 out of 300 drones, with more of those drones hitting Israeli targets. With this workload, the Israel Air Force said that 40% of its personnel are now assigned to air defense roles.