The Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis in Yemen traveled for more than 16 hours and over 1,600 miles before striking a residential building in Tel Aviv, killing one Israeli.

An IDF investigation has found that the modified Samad-3 drone took a non-direct route, flying west from Yemen over the Red Sea, then north over Sudan and Egypt, before reaching the Mediterranean Sea and approaching Tel Aviv from the west. It was only when the drone appeared on Israeli radar as an unidentified target that it was detected, just six minutes before impact.

The investigation revealed that the drone had been tracked for six minutes before dropping in and out of radar coverage, and was in the air for 16 hours, flying at 80-100 knots. Despite being aware of Houthi capabilities, the IAF had no prior information on the attack.

Human error by air traffic control operators, who were tracking another drone launched by an Iran-backed group from Iraq, contributed to the failure to classify the target as a threat. The IAF has since doubled the number of radar operators and increased aerial patrols to detect incoming threats.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)