ISRAEL has made history by winning the world's first-ever space battle after it successfully intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen.

Israel used its Arrow 3 "missile-killer" defence system to shoot down a rocket heading towards the southern city of Eilat, sending it outside the Earth's atmosphere.

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It is thought to be the world's first combat to take place in space.

The success of the deadly long-range air defence system shows that Israel is able to intercept a barrage of ballistic missiles - just like the short-range Iron Dome can destroy Hamas rockets.

The missile was launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels and flew over 1,000 miles towards the port city of Eilat.

Israel made use of the fearsome Arrow 3 for the first time in
October after it downed a rocket allegedly launched by the Houthis in Yemen.

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Israel's military said its forces "successfully intercepted" a "surface-to-surface missile" fired towards Israel from the area of the Red Sea using its Arrow 3 system.

Footage showed a large trail of smoke after the Arrow was launched and residents reported hearing a large blast.

Then the IDF announced on November 10 that the Arrow 3, believed to be the world's first operational and stand-alone defence system that can be used against tactical ballistic missiles, intercepted another Houthi missile.

The rocket, a suspected Iranian Ghadr-110 was blasted outside the Earth's atmosphere.

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The powerful state-of-the-art piece of kit, developed in 1991 in a joint project by Israel and the US, detects, tracks and then fires a hit-to-kill warhead to intercept the incoming missile.

The interceptions, which cost $3 million (£2.3m) per shot, are supposed to take place as far away from Israeli borders as possible, the report.

Chairman of Israel’s space agency Professor Isaac Ben-Israel, 74, told The Times: “We thought one day those missiles could carry nuclear warheads, and therefore we needed to respond as high as possible and as far away from the borders of Israel.

While it remains unknown where in Yemen the missiles were fired from, the Houthi stronghold in Sanaa, is about 1100 miles from Eilat.

Ben-Israel said a typical ballistic missile fired 2000km (1200 miles) would reach an altitude of 500km (310miles) and would take about ten minutes to hit its target.

This would give enough time for the missile to be identified and intercepted by someone from the IDF air defence team.

Ben-Israel explained: “There are human beings in the loop who accept it or reject it. If it’s short-range and Iron Dome, it means you don’t spend too much time on human intervention.

"It’s more automatic. For longer range you have time."

The anti-missile launcher can be used to defend Israel in conjunction with the "Iron Dome" - dubbed the "guardian of the skies" as well as the "Iron Sting" and "Iron Beam" weapons systems.