00:00At 7.11 a.m. local time on June 10, 2025, the Houthis' favorite port went up in smoke once again, but this time it was different.
00:10In an instant, the main cargo pier vanished from a fountain of concrete and steel.
00:16Two and a half seconds later, the port control building collapses into its own basement.
00:21No jets overhead, no warning, just destruction, arriving horizontally at 280 meters per second.
00:28The missiles came from the sea, skimming just a few meters above the waves, so low that Yemeni radar operators never saw them.
00:37So precise that the second warhead punched through three meters of concrete, found an elevator shaft, and followed it down to the underground command bunker.
00:47Within 10 seconds, the Israelis had just made Yemen's newest parking lot.
00:51But how they did it is so unlike any other attack they've done against the Houthis to date.
00:58At 6.45 a.m. local time, the INS Magen cuts through the Red Sea at 18 knots.
01:05Every second takes her 9 meters closer to her launch position.
01:09900 seconds until weapons release.
01:12Magen is a Sa'ar 6 Corvette, 90 meters of German engineering and Israeli ingenuity wrapped in angular steel.
01:19These ships cost $480 million each, and for that price, you get a vessel that packs more firepower than most destroyers into a hull the size of a large yacht.
01:32The Germans decide her to be sneaky.
01:34That angular hull isn't just for looks.
01:37It scatters radar waves in every other direction except back to the sender.
01:41Add the radar-absorbent coating, and she shows up on enemy screens about as well as a fishing boat.
01:49But for the Magen's crew, their biggest fear isn't getting spotted by enemy ships or aircraft.
01:54It's the drone swarms the Houthis have been deploying.
01:5720, 30, sometimes 50 cheap drones coming from multiple directions.
02:01That's where the Magen's party trick comes in.
02:05See those four flat panels on her high superstructure?
02:08That's the ELM-2248 MF-STAR radar, the most advanced naval radar Israel has ever fielded.
02:17Each panel contains 450 transmit-receive modules that work together like a synchronized orchestra.
02:23While old-school rotating radars take 2 to 3 seconds per revolution, the MF-STAR updates its picture 30 times per second.
02:32It can track 300 targets simultaneously, more than enough to handle the largest drone swarms the Houthis can manage.
02:39But thankfully, the crew isn't too worried about them now.
02:43That's because they're throwing the Houthis completely for a loop today.
02:47Since October 2023, the Houthis have been playing defense against Israeli airstrikes.
02:53Every attack came from above, F-35s dropping GPS-guided bombs from 40,000 feet, F-15s launching standoff missiles from above.
03:03Houthis defenses are oriented accordingly.
03:05Their Soviet-era P-14 Tall King radars can scan high-altitude sectors.
03:11Their SA-6 batteries are pointed skyward at angles designed to intercept incoming aircraft.
03:16The Houthis basically have their chin up, while the Israelis are coming in with a savage uppercut.
03:22At 7 a.m., target data flows across the Combat Information Center's screens.
03:28The Magan is exactly where she needs to be, 300 kilometers from Houthis port, well outside the range of any Houthis coastal defense missiles.
03:38Through secure satellite links, she's receiving real-time intelligence from Israeli reconnaissance assets.
03:44Thermal imaging shows the port in exquisite detail.
03:46Every heat source glows on the infrared display.
03:50Generators, vehicles, and one particularly interesting underground facility that's way too warm to be storing frozen fish.
03:59At 7.03 a.m., the crew finally gets the order they've all been waiting for.
04:05Fire.
04:05Time to remind the Houthis why they shouldn't touch Israeli boats either.
04:09At 7.04 a.m., the first missile shoots out.
04:13The Gabriel V rides a column of flames straight up, accelerating at 15 Gs.
04:19The solid rocket booster burns for exactly 3.4 seconds, taking the missile from 0 to Mach 2.1 before separating.
04:28A small turbojet engine hidden in the missile's belly takes over, throttling back to subsonic cruise speed to conserve fuel.
04:351.8 seconds later, cell 16 follows suit.
04:39The spacing prevents the first missile's exhaust from cooking the second one.
04:43Fratricide is embarrassing when you do it to yourself.
04:47By 7.05 a.m., both missiles have completed their initial climb and are nosing over toward the horizon.
04:53This is where things get interesting.
04:56Instead of climbing to altitude like a typical cruise missile, the Gabriel drops down to 3 meters above sea level.
05:03At that height, they're literally flying below the radar horizon for any ground-based system more than 40 kilometers away.
05:11The missiles also don't take the direct route.
05:14That's 278 kilometers of open water where any fishing boat with a radio could report them.
05:20Instead, they follow a pre-programmed path that confuses the enemy.
05:24The first waypoint.
05:26Thread between two cargo ships 80 kilometers out.
05:29Second, use Camaran Island as a radar shield.
05:32Third, exploit the gap in coverage where Houthi radars from two different sites can't quite overlap.
05:39Each waypoint adds distance but buys invisibility.
05:43The onboard navigation system uses three different methods to stay on course.
05:48GPS provides the primary guidance, but the Israelis assume it might be jammed near the target.
05:53Additionally, there's an inertial navigation system that utilizes tiny gyroscopes to track every movement.
06:00And finally, terrain matching.
06:03The missile's radar altimeter constantly compares ground features to stored maps, ensuring it knows exactly where it is.
06:11The Houthis aren't completely helpless, though.
06:14They've gotten a decent air defense network along the coast.
06:17A mix of Soviet hand-me-downs and newer Iranian systems.
06:20The problem is doctrine.
06:23Every system is configured to counter the threat they've been facing for two years.
06:27Aircraft at medium to high altitudes.
06:30Their search patterns start at 1,000 meters and go up from there.
06:34Below that, they assume the terrain provides protection.
06:38Bad assumption when your enemy specializes in terrain-hugging flight profiles.
06:42At 7.09 a.m., the missiles reach the final approach point, 22 kilometers from target.
06:49The turbojets spool up to maximum thrust.
06:52This is the dangerous part.
06:54They're close enough now that even a half-asleep radar operator might notice something screaming toward them at 280 meters per second.
07:02The infrared sensors in the nose cones activate, seeing the world in heat rather than light.
07:07Through the morning haze, Houdeda port appears as a constellation of thermal signatures.
07:13The navigation computers don't just look for the port.
07:16They look for specific features.
07:18That L-shaped pier with its distinctive heat pattern from yesterday's sun.
07:23That control building with the suspiciously warm basement.
07:26The AI-driven pattern recognition can differentiate between a real target and a decoy in milliseconds.
07:33At 7.10 a.m., 10 kilometers from impact, the active radar seekers warm up.
07:39These aren't the massive radar dishes of old.
07:42They're compact, electronically scanned arrays operating in K-band.
07:47The narrow beam width allows them to paint a target with surgical precision while minimizing the chance of detection.
07:54Both missiles simultaneously go active, their seekers locking on to their assigned targets.
07:59The Houthis now have exactly 41 seconds to react.
08:04The port's defenses are, to put it charitably, inadequate.
08:08Two CSU anti-aircraft guns man the perimeter, Soviet-designed weapons that were cutting edge when the Beatles were still together.
08:17The gun crews need six seconds minimum to slew onto a target, assuming they're at their posts and not drinking tea.
08:23One sailor mans a Strela-2 shoulder-fired missile, a heat-seeker that might have threatened a helicopter in 1968.
08:31But against sea-skimming missiles going mock Jesus, they'd have better luck with slingshots.
08:37At 7.11 a.m., five seconds from impact, the missiles make their final corrections.
08:43The first missile adjusts two degrees right to hit the pier's main support structure.
08:48The second one noses down five degrees towards the command bunker.
08:53As the missiles come in for their final phase of flight, the Houthis guards hear the missiles, but there's nothing they can do besides run for their lives.
09:01At 7.11 a.m., the first missile doesn't just hit the pier, it hits exactly where the structure can least afford it.
09:09The Israeli engineers had studied the port layout for months, identifying the critical load-bearing points.
09:16The 200-kilogram warhead detonates at the junction where the main pier meets its primary support column.
09:23The explosion creates a pressure wave traveling at 6,900 meters per second through the concrete.
09:30That's 20 times the speed of sound in air.
09:33The concrete doesn't have time to crack, it simply turns to powder in an expanding sphere.
09:39The rebar inside, designed to hold concrete together, becomes hypersonic shrapnel.
09:45Within 50 milliseconds, a 60-meter section of the pier is now the port's newest seafloor.
09:51The second missile hits two seconds later.
09:54The missile punches through floor after floor of the command building as it gets closer to its target.
10:00The onboard accelerometer counts the distance.
10:033 meters, 5 meters, 8 meters, at a depth of 10 meters.
10:08Exactly where the intelligence indicated the command bunker would be, the delay fuse triggers.
10:14In open air, 200 kilograms of RDX-based explosive creates a lethal radius of about 150 meters.
10:22In a confined underground space, physics gets creative.
10:26The initial blast wave travels outward at 8,000 meters per second, but it has nowhere to go.
10:33It hits the reinforced walls and reflects back, creating a complex pattern of overpressure waves.
10:39Where these waves intersect, pressures spike to over 500 psi.
10:43At that pressure, reinforced concrete flows like water.
10:48Steel I-beams fold like paper.
10:50Above ground, the port control building discovers its basement has suddenly expanded by a factor of four.
10:57Without foundation support, four stories of concrete and steel accelerate downward at 9.8 meters per second.
11:05The building doesn't collapse.
11:06It implodes, rushing to fill the void where the basement once was.
11:11Secondary explosions ripple through the facility as fuel lines rupture and electrical systems arc.
11:17A backup generator, faithfully trying to restore power, instead contributes 400 liters of diesel fuel to the growing inferno.
11:26By 7, 11, and 30 seconds a.m., the Houdata port has been fundamentally reorganized.
11:33The main pier exists in name only.
11:35The port control facility is a smoking crater.
11:38The underground command center is now just a deep hole.
11:42But this isn't the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul prize match.
11:46The Houthis still have a lot of fight left in them.
11:49And this time, it will be the Israelis who get caught off guard.
11:53At 7.51 p.m., at a launch site 30 kilometers inland from Sana'a, a massive truck-mounted launcher raises its cargo toward the stars.
12:03The Birkin III ballistic missile, all 12 meters and 7,000 kilograms of it, points at Israel with one goal in mind.
12:12The Birkin III is what happens when you take a Soviet Scud missile, feed it Iranian steroids, and teach it new tricks.
12:20The original Scud C could barely reach 600 kilometers.
12:24This modified monster can touch 1,200 kilometers, putting all of Israel in range from Yemen.
12:31The Iranians didn't just extend the fuel tanks.
12:34They redesigned the entire propulsion system, upgraded the guidance package, and topped it with a 250-kilogram warhead that can level a city block.
12:43The launch crew knows they're racing against time, American satellites are watching, Israeli intelligence is monitoring, and every second the missile sits vertically, is another second for someone to put a cruise missile through their windshield.
12:58With targeting data from Iran secured, at 7.52 p.m., they hit the launch button.
13:05Unlike liquid-fueled missiles that build thrust gradually, solid motors go from zero to everything right now.
13:11The Birkin accelerates off the launcher at 5Gs, crushing its inertial components against their mountings.
13:18In four seconds, it's supersonic.
13:20The ground crew doesn't wait to watch.
13:22They're already racing to get their launcher underground before the inevitable counter-strike.
13:285,000 kilometers away, orbiting high above the Earth, an American Defense Support Program satellite detects the launch.
13:35These Cold War veterans were designed to spot Soviet ICBMs, but they work just fine on tactical ballistic missiles.
13:43The satellite's infrared telescope sees the Birkin's exhaust plume like a flashlight in a dark room.
13:50Within 0.7 seconds, it's transmitting a warning.
13:53The data bounces through the secure channels at light speed, Pentagon to Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv to the Kira Defense Complex, Kira to every aero battery in Israel.
14:05Total elapsed time, 2.1 seconds.
14:08Four seconds after launch, the Israeli Defense Forces radar has already acquired the target.
14:15The Green Pine radar is arguably one of the best air defense radars in the world.
14:19Each radar array stands 9 meters tall and weighs 60 tons, about the same as an M1 Abrams tank.
14:27But weight isn't what makes Green Pine special.
14:30It's the raw power.
14:32This beast pumps out 2 megawatts of radar energy, enough to track a baseball at 500 kilometers or a ballistic missile at 800 kilometers.
14:41The radar doesn't just scan mechanically like older systems.
14:45Instead, it uses electronic beam steering to search vast volumes of sky in milliseconds.
14:522,000 transmit receive modules work in perfect synchronization, creating beams that can track 30 targets while guiding 12 interceptors simultaneously.
15:02The L-band frequency gives it the perfect balance.
15:05Long enough wavelength to see through weather and chaff, short enough for precision tracking.
15:10As the Birkin climbs through 20 kilometers of altitude, Green Pine has already calculated its entire trajectory.
15:17Apogee, 185 kilometers.
15:20Impact point, greater Tel Aviv area.
15:23Time to impact, 7 minutes, 23 seconds.
15:26The battle management system automatically assigns the threat to the best position aero battery.
15:31The Aero 3 system represents the third generation of Israeli's ballistic missile defense, and it's a complete departure from its predecessors.
15:41Aero 1 and 2 were designed to intercept missiles in the upper atmosphere.
15:46Aero 3 says, forget the atmosphere, and takes out threats in space.
15:50At 8.03 PM, exactly as the Birkin reaches 42 kilometers altitude, an Aero 3 interceptor roars off its launcher at Ramon Air Base.
16:00The two-stage missile accelerates even harder than its target, 8 Gs, crushing it against the launcher before it clears the rail.
16:09The first stage, a massive solid rocket motor, burns for 40 seconds, taking the interceptor through the atmosphere at speeds that turn air into plasma.
16:18The missile glows white-hot, protected by a special coating that sacrifices itself to keep the electronics cool.
16:25At an altitude of 60 meters, the first stage burns out and separates.
16:30The second stage ignites immediately, pushing the intercept vehicle higher and faster.
16:36By the time it reaches 80 kilometers, officially in space, it's traveling at 2,800 meters per second.
16:43That's Mach 8.2, or New York to Los Angeles in 20 minutes.
16:49But speed isn't the Aero 3's secret weapon.
16:52It's the intercept vehicle itself.
16:55Once the second stage falls away, what remains is 150 kilometers of the most sophisticated technology Israel produces.
17:03At these speeds, kinetic energy is more devastating than any warhead.
17:08Instead, it carries sensors, computers, and divert thrusters that can make adjustments measured in centimeters while traveling at interplanetary velocities.
17:18The infrared seeker opens its eyes and starts hunting.
17:22Space is big and dark, but the Birkin's body still radiates heat from its boost phase.
17:28Against the absolute zero background of space, it glows like a neon sign.
17:32Its computer processes targeting data 1,000 times per second, calculating intercept solutions with obsessive precision.
17:41But despite all this amazing tech, this is still a much harder shot than clinking away at the gun range with your favorite gun.
17:49Both missiles are moving at ludicrous speeds, and they need to hit within a meter of each other.
17:56Missing by even 10 meters means the warhead continues to Tel Aviv.
18:00The intercept vehicle fires its divert thrusters in precise millisecond bursts, up 2 meters, left 0.5 meters, up another 0.3 meters.
18:11Each adjustment is calculated and executed faster than the human mind can think.
18:16At 8.05 p.m., at an altitude of 72 kilometers above the Mediterranean Sea, the intercept vehicle finds its mark.
18:25The closing velocity is 3,400 meters per second.
18:29That's 12,240 kilometers per hour.
18:33The 150-kilogram intercept vehicle delivers 867 megajoules of energy to a target the size of a trash can.
18:42For reference, that's equivalent to 200 kilograms of TNT concentrated into a fist-sized impact point.
18:49The Birkin doesn't explode, it disintegrates.
18:53The warhead section, suddenly finding itself without guidance, tumbles off course.
18:59Instead of Tel Aviv, it's now headed for an empty ocean 37 kilometers offshore.
19:04The rocket body transforms into an expanding cloud of hypersonic fragments,
19:09each piece tracked by pine-green radar to ensure none maintain a ballistic trajectory toward populated areas.
19:16Thankfully, none did.
19:18Bye for now.
