Hamas congratulates Houthis on Israel attack amid fears of wider war

ADEN (Reuters) -Hamas chief Yehya Sinwar congratulated Yemen's Houthi group for its missile attack on Israel over the weekend and said this sent a message to their foe, the Houthi Al-Massirah TV reported on Monday, underscoring fears the war in Gaza could erupt into a wider regional conflict.

The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control northern Yemen, reached central Israel with a missile on Sunday for the first time, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say Israel would inflict a "heavy price" on them.

The United States appeared dismissive of Houthi claims that it fired a difficult-to-intercept hypersonic missile, and Iran, its military supporter, denied transferring any hypersonic missiles to the country.

But the latest Houthi strike, and the threat of Israeli retaliation, were a reminder of how the nearly year-old war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel could still broaden into a full-blown regional conflict, despite U.S. efforts to contain the crisis.

"I congratulate you on your success in reaching the depth of the enemy entity," Sinwar said in a letter to Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi.

Sinwar is leading Iran-backed Hamas in the war against Israel in the Gaza Strip, now in its 12th month.

The Hamas chief said that Israel's plans to neutralize the militant group had failed.

"I assure you that the resistance is fine. We have prepared ourselves to fight a long battle of attrition," he said.

The Houthis published on Monday an almost two-minute video of what they said was the "hypersonic" Palestine 2 missile being launched in Sunday's attack on Israel. The word "hypersonic" was written on the side of missile in red letters.

The Yemeni group's video said the missile's range is 2,150 km (1,342 miles), with speeds of up to Mach 16, meaning 16 times the speed of sound.

Although ballistic missiles can travel faster than sound, a hypersonic weapon travels at more than five times the speed of sound and is highly maneuverable, helping it avoid interception.

"It possesses high ability to maneuver beyond the world's newest and most powerful air defense systems, including the Iron Dome," the group said.

Still, the Pentagon said it concluded that the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Israel.

If the Houthis did have a hypersonic missile, it would be a first for the mountain fighters known more their audacious attacks than their technological prowess.

Fabian Hinz, an expert on Iran’s missile program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, discounted the Houthis’ claim and said Houthi video and photos suggested the weapon was an Iranian-produced Kheibar Shekan.

Hinz said that Iranian missile was a solid-fuel, medium-range ballistic missile that the Houthis showed in 2022 and called the Hatem.

An Israeli military official said the missile was hit by an interceptor and fragmented in the air. Missile pieces landed in fields and near a railway station. There were no direct casualties but nine people were lightly hurt while seeking cover.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Aden and Clauda Tanios and Nayera Abdallah in Dubai, Jaidaa Taha in Cairo, Phil Stewart and Jonathan Landay in Washington; Editing by Gareth Jones, Angus MacSwan, Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman)