SANA’A (QJ) – The Israeli military has announced that it has targeted multiple sites linked to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, including the international airport in Sana’a and three ports on the western coast.
The attacks carried out on Thursday struck energy facilities in Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib in Yemen as well as military infrastructure at the ports of Hudaydah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib, according to the military.
The strikes on Sana’a airport and the Hudaydah power plant were also reported by Al Masirah TV, the main news outlet run by the Houthis.
Reports add that two people died in the attack on the airport, one person died at the port, and 11 others were injured.
Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that he and his UN colleagues were preparing to board a plane at Sana’a airport when they encountered the Israeli bombing.
“One of the plane’s staff was injured. At least two people were reported dead at the airport. The air traffic control tower, the lounge – a few meters from where we were – and the runway were damaged,” he said in a post on X, adding that they were all safe.
Tedros stated that the UN and WHO teams were in the country to “negotiate the release of detained UN staff and assess the health and humanitarian situation in Yemen.”
The Israeli strikes came a day after the Yemeni Houthis, who control northwestern Yemen, including Sana’a and the Red Sea coast, fired a ballistic missile and two drones toward Israel. Late last week, 16 people were injured when a Houthi missile struck a sports stadium in Tel Aviv.
Last week, Israeli aircraft bombed Sana’a and Hudaydah, killing nine people, describing it as a response to earlier Houthi attacks.
Houthi fighters have targeted Israel and associated ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since Israel started its massacres in Gaza on October 7, 2023, following a Hamas attack on Israel that killed 1,139 people.
The Houthis have said they are acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 45,000 people, mostly children and women, have been killed by Israeli forces.
