A drone fired by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi rebels struck the arrivals hall of Israel’s Ramon International Airport near the southern city of Eilat on Sunday, injuring one person and forcing a two-hour suspension of flights, Israeli authorities said.
Speaking to Channel 12, Cohen said: “I always wanted to be proactive, identify threats, neutralize them. But the prevailing approach was avoidance—‘Oh, what will happen next?’ For example, I had a full plan to eliminate Qassem Soleimani in Syria. Everything was ready—intelligence, surveillance, logistics—but I was told I couldn’t carry it out because it would spark a war with Iran.”
During the interview, aired Saturday evening, he recalled then US President Donald Trump accusing Netanyahu of cowardice for backing out of the strike.
Cohen said Israeli reluctance “wasn’t because of the prime minister -- but because [Netanyahu] accepted the army and military intelligence’s position,” referring to then chief of staff Aviv Kohavi.
He recalled a security meeting in which he proposed that the IDF strike a site linked to Qassem Soleimani that the military had itself labeled a serious strategic threat, without giving a date. “The chief of staff opposed me, right there,” he said. “I told the prime minister: ‘Instruct him.’ But no directive was given.”
Cohen said Netanyahu sided with the generals, a stance he described as a “policy of consequences.”
Asked if the generals intimidated the premier, he said: “Absolutely.”
On June 13, Israel launched surprise attacks on Iran, killing many senior military leaders and nuclear experts, and triggering a 12-day war that brought destruction to both sides.
After Cohen’s remarks were aired Saturday evening, Kohavi issued a statement saying the IDF had opposed a different operation proposed by Cohen to kill Soleimani, and had backed what proved to be a successful operation.
Asked if Netanyahu might have acted differently in another environment, Cohen replied: “Yes, absolutely.”
Under Cohen's tenure, from 2016-2021, Operation House of Cards saw Israel target dozens of Iranian targets in Syria in 2018.
During his Saturday interview, Cohen said one of his major successes was acquiring Iran’s nuclear archive.
He said he devised the “exploding beepers” tactic used against Hezbollah last year, when pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to the Iran-backed group were rigged to detonate simultaneously, killing and wounding hundreds of its fighters across Lebanon.
“I’m the father of the concept," the long-time agent said. "In 2004, I told then-Mossad chief Meir Dagan I wanted a special operations center that would also handle equipment sales.”
Israel’s military said the Houthis launched several drones, most of which were intercepted outside the country, but at least one breached its air defenses and crashed into the passenger terminal.
The Airports Authority said the blast blew out windows and sent smoke plumes into the air, suspending the flights for two hours.
“Following the completion of all safety and security checks, compliance with international civil aviation standards, and receipt of final approval from the Air Force – Ramon Airport has now been reopened for full operations, for both departures and arrivals,” the authority said in a statement.
“The first flight from Ramon to Ben Gurion Airport (near Tel Aviv) is expected to depart shortly.”
Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said it treated a 63-year-old man for light shrapnel wounds. Reuters earlier reported that a 52-year-old woman was also injured.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the strike, hailing it as “a unique, qualitative military operation.”
Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, wrote on social media: “Enemy airports are unsafe, and foreigners must leave them for their own safety. Other sensitive targets are under fire.”
The attack came just days after Israeli strikes on Sanaa killed Houthi prime minister Ahmed al-Rahawi and other officials, escalating the nearly two-year conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed group.
The Houthis vowed to escalate attacks after al-Rahawi’s killing, targeting both Israel and merchant ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthis have been firing missiles and drones at Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 assault triggered the war in Gaza, saying their strikes are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Houthi strikes on Israel
Since the Gaza war began, the Houthis have carried out at least six successful strikes on Israeli territory.
An investigation by the Israeli military found that the Houthis used a ballistic missile armed with a cluster bomb warhead in its attack on Israel last month. One of the munitions from the strike hit the yard of a house in the central Israeli town of Ginaton, causing minor damage.
In May, a Houthi missile struck near Israel’s main Ben Gurion Airport, injuring eight people.
Three of the Iran-backed group’s strikes on Israel came in December 2024.
On December 9, a drone launched from Yemen hit an apartment block in Yavne, between Tel Aviv and Ashdod, destroying two apartments.
Ten days later, on December 19, a missile fired by the Houthis hit a school in Ramat Ef’al, a neighborhood in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan, causing extensive damage.
On December 21, the Houthis fired the “Palestine 2,” which the group described as a hypersonic ballistic missile, that struck a playground in Jaffa, a district of Tel Aviv, injuring at least 16 people.
Last July, the Houthis fired a long-range Iranian-made drone from Yemen that struck central Tel Aviv, killing one man and wounding several others, according to Israeli authorities.
