The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Israel, their first since the war in West Asia started.

Also read: West Asia war updates on March 28, 2026

Brig Gen Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Houthis, issued the claim in a statement aired on Saturday morning (March 28, 2026) by the rebels Al-Masirah satellite television.

The Israeli military said it intercepted the missile.

The attack came hours after Mr. Saree signalled in a vague statement on Friday (March 27, 2026) that the rebels would join the war, which shocked the region and rattled the global economy.

Mr. Saree said they fired a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting what he described as “sensitive Israeli military sites” in southern Israel.

The entrance of the Houthis into the war also called into question whether the rebels will again target commercial shipping travelling through the Red Sea corridor, further disrupting global shipping.

The Houthi rebels attacked over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, from November 2023 until January 2025.

Israeli strike on Iranian steel factories

Israel’s military said on Saturday (March 28, 2026) it had detected incoming missiles from Iran, ⁠and Syrian state television reported explosions heard above the capital Damascus from Israeli intercepts of the Iranian missiles. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain also reported ⁠missile attacks early on Saturday (March 28, 2026), with many people injured and fires reported after a missile was intercepted near Abu Dhabi’s KEZAD economic zone.

At least five people were killed and seven injured after a U.S.-Israeli attack on a residential unit in Iran’s northwestern city of Zanjan, ‌Iranian media reported early on Saturday. The Iran University of Science and Technology in Tehran was also struck, media reported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on X that Israel, in coordination with the U.S., had also hit two steel factories and a power plant. “Attack contradicts POTUS ​extended deadline for diplomacy. Iran will exact a HEAVY price for Israeli crimes,” Mr. Araghchi said on Friday (March 27, 2026), using an acronym for President of the United States.

(With inputs from AP, Reuters)