Israel is signaling a wider campaign against Houthi militants in Yemen, a mountainous and impoverished country more than 1,000 miles from Israeli territory.

An American missile defense system was used for the first time to intercept a retaliatory attack launched by Yemen’s Houthis rebels at Israel’s central airport overnight as threats continue to escalate between the Jewish state and Iran’s terror proxies.

It was the first time the Thaad system had been used to defend the Jewish state against Iranian-manufactured weaponry.