diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c21a1dc..ec63fdc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ All notable changes to this project are documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html) (as of version 1.2.0).
 
+## Unreleased
+
+### Changed
+
+- Scraper fails for all HTTP error codes returned when checking URL at startup (#223)
+
 ## [1.5.3] - 2023-10-02
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/zimit.py b/zimit.py
index 0ddbd27..943f7c0 100755
--- a/zimit.py
+++ b/zimit.py
@@ -451,6 +451,7 @@ def check_url(url, scope=None):
         resp = requests.head(
             url.geturl(), stream=True, allow_redirects=True, timeout=(12.2, 27)
         )
+        resp.raise_for_status()
     except requests.exceptions.RequestException as exc:
         print(f"failed to connect to {url.geturl()}: {exc}", flush=True)
         raise SystemExit(1)