The Most Expensive Missile Interception in History… A Shock Shakes the Israeli Military Establishment

NYN | Reports and Analyses 

The Israeli magazine Sapir Journal has highlighted one of the most destabilizing fronts for Israel over the past two years, affirming that the missile attacks launched by Sanaa since November 2023 have left a clear impact on Israel’s internal front and pushed the military to expand its defense spending at unprecedented levels to reinforce its aerial protection systems.

These findings came in an extensive report titled “The Calculable Costs of Israel’s Wars… Can Israel Afford Them?” The journal explained that the long-range Yemeni missiles have become a genuine strategic challenge after reaching deep areas inside the occupied Palestinian territories, forcing the Israeli military establishment to deploy the advanced Arrow system on a large scale—despite the system’s performance falling short of expectations.

The report noted that the cost of intercepting Yemeni missiles has surpassed the one-billion-dollar mark since the widening of confrontations on multiple fronts, pointing out that a single Arrow interceptor missile costs more than two million dollars.

These figures come at a time when the Israeli economy is suffering from a growing fiscal deficit that has reached around 6.9% of GDP.

According to the journal, spending on interceptor missiles alone has amounted to approximately 852 million dollars over the past two years, while operational and combat expenses have risen to even higher levels by several additional billions. This brings the total projected cost of the war up to more than 68 billion dollars by the end of 2025.

The report explained that the Houthi (Ansar Allah) attacks form part of an extremely complex regional landscape, intersecting with what the journal described as “Israel’s military operations in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.”

It added that the strikes coming from Yemen have introduced a new dimension to the battle and forced Israel to reconsider its defensive strategy due to the elevated threat level and the long distances from which these attacks originate.

The report also noted that the widening scope of attacks is increasing pressure on Israel’s internal front, particularly amid a growing sense of the difficulty of protecting the occupied interior from threats emerging from distant regions.

In conclusion, the journal warned that the accumulation of war costs—along with the psychological and social pressures and rising economic burdens—may leave a significant imprint on Israel’s internal situation in the coming phase.

It further affirmed that Sanaa’s attacks have become an influential factor in the regional balance of power, having compelled Israel to fully reassess its security and financial calculations.