A LONG-RANGE MISSILE fired from Yemen has landed in an open area in central Israel, its military has said.

The attack early today triggered air raid sirens, including at Israel’s international airport, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. The military said the sound of explosions in the area came from interceptors.

Israeli media aired footage of passengers racing to safe rooms at Ben Gurion International Airport and taking cover on a train. They also showed images of what appeared to be a fragment from a missile or interceptor that landed on an escalator in a train station in the central town of Modiin.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel since the start of the nearly year-long war in Gaza but nearly all of them have been intercepted over the Red Sea.

In July, an Iranian-made drone launched by the Houthis struck Tel Aviv, killing one person and injuring 10 others. Israel responded with a wave of air strikes on Houthi-held areas of Yemen.

The Houthis have also repeatedly attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea, in what the rebels portray as a blockade on Israel in support of the Palestinians. Most of the targeted ships have no connection to Israel.

The war in Gaza has rippled across the region, with Iran and allied militant groups attacking Israeli and US targets and drawing retaliatory strikes from Israel and its Western allies. On several occasions, the strikes and counter-strikes have threatened to trigger a wider conflict.