Sanaa, Sep 29 (IANS): Yemen's Houthi group claimed that it had launched a missile attack on Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv in Israel.

In a statement aired by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV on Saturday, the group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said a "ballistic missile" was fired at Ben Gurion Airport "upon the arrival" of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who returned to the country on Saturday after addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Friday.

Sarea vowed that the group "will continue to respond to Israel's crimes and will not hesitate to raise the level of escalation in support of the Gaza Strip and Lebanon."

Earlier in the day, the Israel Defense Forces said it successfully intercepted a surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen, which triggered air raid sirens across central Israel, including in Tel Aviv, as reported by Xinhua news agency.

This is the second missile attack claimed by the Houthis against Israel within two days after the group claimed a ballistic missile attack on a military target in the Jaffa area of Tel Aviv on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Houthis declared via al-Masirah TV a three-day mourning over the death of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes on Friday evening.

The Houthi group, which controls large swathes of northern Yemen, has been attacking "Israeli-linked" shipping near the country's coastline since November 2023, allegedly to support Palestinians in their conflict with Israelis.

The group is aligned with the anti-Israel "axis of resistance," which also includes Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and militant groups in Iraq and Syria, among others.