Israel Deploys New Weapon for the First Time

Israel has purportedly destroyed a threatening drone after using a new naval version of its Iron Dome missile defense system for the first time.

The ship-mounted “C-Dome” system took down the drone shortly after it entered Israeli airspace near the southern resort city of Eilat just before midnight on Monday, according to The Times of Israel.

Several drones had reportedly been launched at Israeli targets in the area in recent days by Iran-backed militant groups, while Israel continues its assault on Gaza in response to the surprise October 7 attack by Hamas.

Video clips appearing to show a pair of C-Dome missiles in flight, after being launched from an Israeli Sa’ar 6-class corvette, were purportedly captured by people visiting a nearby beach and posted to social media on Monday night.

An Israeli warship is pictured firing a missile during a test of the “C-Dome” defense system on February 21, 2022. Israel Defense Forces on Monday purportedly destroyed a drone fired by a group of Iran-backed…

Israeli Ministry of Defence/Anadolu Agency

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shared its own video of the incident in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday morning, while celebrating the military’s increased ability to “engage with regional threats.”

“For the first time ever, an IDF Sa’ar 6-class corvette missile ship successfully intercepted a UAV that approached from the east and crossed into the area of the Gulf of Eilat,” the IDF post states.

“IDF missile boats including Sa’ar 6-class corvettes have been positioned in the Red Sea and have both the defensive and offensive capabilities to engage with regional threats,” it continues.

For the first time ever, an IDF Sa’ar 6-class corvette missile ship successfully intercepted a UAV that approached from the east and crossed into the area of the Gulf of Eilat.

IDF missile boats including Sa’ar 6-class corvettes have been positioned in the Red Sea and have both… pic.twitter.com/SujPlfctr7

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 9, 2024

Mark Dubowitz, CEO of pro-Israel U.S. think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, praised Israel’s Iron Dome system as “a miracle of military ingenuity and expeditiousness that has saved many Israeli lives,” saying the success of C-Dome was “no surprise.”

“It’s no surprise that its naval counterpart has proven itself in the current multi-front war against the Jewish state by the Iranian axis,” Dubowitz said in a statement. “And as with Iron Dome and other Israeli systems, U.S. military industries and allies stand to gain from this battle-tested technology.

While IDF said that it destroyed a drone from a group backed by the Iranian government, Newsweek has not independently verified the C-Dome strike, the destruction of the drone or its origin. Newsweek reached out for comment to IDF and the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email on Tuesday night.

Already tense relations between Israel and Iran further deteriorated following a suspected Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Syria last week. Iran vowed to retaliate for the deadly attack, sparking concerns of a wider regional conflict, while IDF claimed that it had instead hit a “military building.”

Israel remains under mounting international pressure to agree to a cease-fire due to a humanitarian crisis that has unfolded in Gaza during six months of relentless attacks from the IDF. Over 33,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, while about 1,200 Israelis were killed in the October 7 attack, according to the Associated Press.