A new maritime variant of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system was used for the first time, and the result was the alleged destruction of a dangerous drone.
The drone was shot down by the ship-mounted “C-Dome” system just before midnight on Monday, near the southern tourist city of Eilat, after it crossed Israeli airspace.
While Israel keeps up its attacks on Gaza in reaction to Hamas’s surprise offensive on October 7, reports indicate that terrorist factions supported by Iran have fired many drones against Israeli sites in the region in the past few days.
People from a nearby beach allegedly recorded two C-Dome missiles in flight on Monday night and shared the footage online. The rockets were reportedly fired from an Israeli Sa’ar 6-class corvette.
In a post on X, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) uploaded footage of the event on Tuesday morning, with a celebration of the military’s enhanced capacity to engage with regional threats.
Criticizing Israel’s Iron Dome system, CEO Mark Dubowitz of the pro-Israel U.S. research tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies called it a miracle of military ingenuity and expeditiousness that has saved many Israeli lives, adding that the success of C-Dome was “no surprise.”
Newsweek has not independently confirmed the C-Dome hit, the destruction of the drone, or its provenance, even though the IDF claimed to have destroyed a drone belonging to an organization supported by the Iranian government.
Last week, tensions between the two countries intensified as reports surfaced of what seemed to be an Israeli bombing of Iran’s embassy in Syria. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had struck a “military building.” Iran, however, threatened retaliation, leading to fears of a broader regional confrontation.
A humanitarian catastrophe has developed in Gaza as a result of six months of constant assaults by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), and the international community is putting increasing pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire. The Associated Press reports that 1,200 Israelis were killed in the strike on October 7, while more than 33,000 Palestinians have been slain since the conflict started.
