Israeli air strikes hit Yemen's Sanaa airport in retaliation against Houthi rebels

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Israeli warplanes on Thursday bombed the airport in Yemen's capital Sanaa, as well as a military airbase, power stations and port facilities in areas controlled by the country's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The head of the UN has denounced the "escalation" in hostilities between Yemen's Houthi rebels and Israel, and called strikes on the Sanaa airport "especially alarming", a spokesman said.

The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV channel carried images and interviews with people wounded in the attack, including three who said they were at the airport. It reported: “An Israeli aggression targeted with a series of raids Sanaa International Airport.”

World Health Organisation director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was at the Sanaa airport at the time of the Israeli attack.

“As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa, about two hours ago, the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured,” Dr Tedros posted on X on Thursday. “We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave. My UN and WHO colleagues and I are safe."

Two strikes hit the central electricity plant in Sanhan district in Sanaa, Al Masirah said. Israeli jets also attacked Ras Kutaib power station and Ras Isa oil port in Hodeidah province, the Houthis' media centre reported.

The strikes were carried out as Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al Houthi threatened Israel with more attacks in a speech broadcast on the group's media outlets.

The Israeli military confirmed air raids on the targets reported, as well as on the port in Hodeidah city, saying it was striking at military infrastructure.

The Houthi-controlled Saba news agency said six people were killed – three at the airport and three in Hodeidah – and 40 people were wounded in the attacks.

A Yemenia flight from Jordan was scheduled to arrive at the airport on Friday morning, while another arrived this morning, according to the departure schedule at Queen Alia airport in Amman.

Israel attacked Hodeidah port and a power station in Sanaa last week after intercepting at least one missile that it said was launched by the Houthis towards central Israel. Israeli jets had also carried out raids on Houthi-held areas in June and April.

The Houthis have launched missiles and drones at Israel since the start of the war in Gaza in October last year, in what they say is a campaign of support for the people of Palestinian. Last Saturday, a Houthi missile injured 16 people in Tel Aviv.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the destruction of the group's infrastructure and that strikes would "continue until the job is done".

"We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil," he said in a video statement. “We will persist in this until we complete the task.”

Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would "hunt down all the Houthi leaders … No one will be able to escape us".

A US State Department spokesperson told The National: “What we will say is that we support Israel’s right to defend itself. In doing so, it is critical that Israel’s operations be conducted in a way that complies with its obligations regarding the protection of civilians.”

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam said attacking Sanaa International Airport and other civilian infrastructure was a “Zionist crime against all the Yemeni people”.

“If the Zionist enemy thinks that its crime will stop Yemen from supporting Gaza, it is delusional, and Yemen will not abandon its religious and humanitarian principles, God willing.”

Iran, the Houthis' main ally, called the strikes a "violation" of peace and security. "These aggressions are a clear violation of international peace and security and an undeniable crime against the heroic and noble people of Yemen, who have not spared any effort to support the oppressed people of Palestine against the occupation and genocide," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said.

"Israeli air strikes today on Sanaa international airport, the Red Sea ports and power stations in Yemen are especially alarming," a spokesperson of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. "The secretary general remains deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation in the region and reiterates his call for all parties concerned to cease all military actions and exercise utmost restraint."

Yemen is the last major active war front against Israel outside the Palestinian territories after a ceasefire was reached between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah in November.

The Houthis, along with Hezbollah and militias in Iraq that are also aligned with Tehran, began drone, rocket and missile attacks on Israel after it launched a military offensive on Gaza.

The war in Gaza, which has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians, began after Palestinian militants from the territory attacked southern Israel on October 7 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 others hostage.

Mr Netanyahu said earlier that “the Houthis are learning and will learn the hard way, that whoever attacks Israel pays a very heavy price for it”.

“After Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are almost the last remaining arm of Iran's evil axis,” he said.