Israeli jets hit Qatar with ballistic missiles from Red Sea: US official

Missiles travelled at multiple times the speed of sound

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Israeli fighter jets over the Red Sea launched ballistic missiles to target Hamas leaders in Qatar last week, a US defence official said, in what was a novel method likely designed to overcome the country's air defences and avoid entering any Mideast nation's airspace.

The September-9 attack, which killed six people in Qatar's capital, Doha, upended months of diplomacy mediated by the Arabian Peninsula nation to reach a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that has devastated the Gaza Strip over nearly two years. Just over a week after the missile launch, Israel began a ground offensive targeting Gaza City.

Element of surprise

The Israeli military took advantage of the element of surprise by firing in a direction probably not anticipated by Qatar or the United States, whose Mideast forward headquarters operates out of Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.