Israeli fighter jets targeted sites in Yemen on Thursday, including the international airport of the capital Sana’a, in response to attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi movement.
The Houthi-controlled health ministry said at least six people were killed and 42 injured.
“Fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and inland Yemen,” a statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
The IDF said one of the targets was infrastructure belonging to the Houthi militia at the airport in Sana’a. Several ports, including Hodeidah, as well as two of the country’s power plants, were also hit.
Israel accused the Houthi militia of using civilian infrastructure for military purposes, such as smuggling weapons from Iran.
The Houthis said the airport was hit along with a a power plant and the Ras Isa oil port, in the western province of Hodeidah.
Anis Al Asbahi, the spokesman for the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Health, told dpa the bombardment of the Sana’a airport killed three and injured 30 others, while the strikes on the Ras Issa port killed one person and injured 12 others.
“This toll is still preliminary,” he added.
An official at the airport told dpa that the strikes had targeted the waiting lounge, the control tower of the facility and large parts of the runway.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the bombardment was carried out five minutes before a flight operated by the national carrier Yemenia coming from Amman, Jordan, was to land.
A team from the World Health Organization (WHO), including its director general, came under fire in the Israeli attack on the Sana’a airport.
“As we were about to board our flight from Sana’a, about two hours ago, the airport came under aerial bombardment, wrote WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on X.
“One of our plane’s crew members was injured. At least two people were reported killed at the airport. The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged.”
The members of the UN and WHO delegation were unharmed and safe, he said. “Our heartfelt condolences to the families whose loved ones lost their lives in the attack,” Tedros wrote.
The strikes coincided with a televised address delivered by the militia’s leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi.
The militia’s spokesman, Mohammed Abdel-Salam, reacted defiantly.
“If the Zionist enemy [Israel] thinks that its crimes will stop Yemen from supporting Gaza, it is delusional. Yemen will not abandon its religious and humanitarian principles,” Abdel-Salam said on the social media platform X.
UN Secretary General António Guterres called for de-escalation in a statement released late on Thursday.
“Israeli airstrikes today on Sana’a International Airport, the Red Sea ports and power stations in Yemen are especially alarming,” Guterres said, according to a spokeswoman.
“The Secretary-General condemns the escalation between Yemen and Israel,” the statement added.
The Israeli airstrikes followed about a year of “escalatory actions” by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the region “that threaten civilians, regional stability and freedom of maritime navigation,” Guterres said. He called on all parties to protect the civilian population and civilian infrastructure.
After recent rocket attacks by the Houthis on the Tel Aviv area, the Israeli Air Force chief announced tougher counter-attacks on the Islamist militia in Yemen, an impoverished, war-torn country.
The Houthis are allied with Israel’s arch-enemy Iran, like Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
Since the onset of the Gaza war more than a year ago, Yemen’s Houthis have targeted Israel and merchant vessels in the Red Sea, stating these actions are in solidarity with Gaza.
