The Houthi attacks come after Israeli strikes Thursday on sites controlled by the rebels, including the Sanaa airport, bases, power plants and port facilities elsewhere in Yemen, according to the insurgents who denounced “a crime”.
The Israeli army said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen early Saturday, December 28, a day after the Yemeni capital Sanaa, held by Houthi rebels, was hit by a new airstrike.
The strike came a day after deadly Israeli raids on rebel-held sites, including Sanaa airport, where the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and a UN coordinator for humanitarian aid in Yemen.
Warning sirens
It was not immediately clear who carried out Friday's strike on the Yemeni capital, also reported by witnesses, with the Houthis citing a “American and British aggression”. The rebels said shortly before having fired a missile towards Tel Aviv airport (central Israel), launched drones towards the city of Tel Aviv and attacked a ship in the Arabian Sea.
Early Saturday, the Israeli military said a missile launched from Yemen had been intercepted “before entering Israeli territory”. Warning sirens were sounded in central Israel, in accordance with protocol. The Houthi attacks come after Israeli strikes Thursday on rebel-controlled sites, including Sanaa airport, bases, power plants and port facilities elsewhere in Yemen, according to insurgents who denounced “a crime”.
Six people have died in Yemen according to the Houthis. Four of them at Sanaa airport and around twenty travelers and staff members were injured there, according to the deputy minister of Transport in the rebel administration, Yahya al-Sayani.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was at Sanaa airport at the time of the bombing and told X that he was “safe and sound”. He indicated on the same platform on Friday that he had arrived in the Jordanian capital Amman, adding that a staff member of the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), injured in the strike on the airport, had been evacuated to the Jordan to receive treatment.
The United Nations coordinator for humanitarian aid in Yemen, Julien Harneis, also present at Sanaa airport during the raid, denounced Friday strikes against a site «civil», “absolutely vital” for humanitarian delivery in this country in civil war since 2014. “The most terrifying thing (…) is that these strikes took place (…) while a Yemenia Airways airliner, carrying hundreds of Yemenis, was preparing to land”he told the press, on video from Yemen.
Airport damaged
Mr. Sayani told him that flights had resumed Friday at 10 a.m. local time (7 a.m. GMT) at Sanaa airport. The control tower was “directly affected”as well as the departures room and navigation equipment, he said. AFP images show the top of the control tower destroyed, the windows of a building broken and pieces of glass littering the ground.
Since 2022, only the national airline Yemenia has provided a limited commercial connection from Sanaa airport, with Amman as the main destination. Between 2016 and 2022, it only hosted humanitarian flights operated by the UN.
The Israeli army said it targeted Thursday “military infrastructure used by the Houthis at Sanaa airport”as well as power plants and military sites notably in Hodeida (west), again in response to rebel attacks.
The Houthis, supported by Iran, control Sanaa as well as large swathes of Yemen, a poor country on the Arabian Peninsula. “Israeli aggression will only increase the determination of the Yemeni people to continue supporting the Palestinian people”said in a statement the insurgents, who have since the start of the war in Gaza launched numerous attacks against Israel, in “solidarity” with the Palestinians.
“Destroy infrastructure”
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in central Sanaa on Friday to protest Israeli strikes the day before and reaffirm their support for the Palestinians. “The equation has changed and has now become: airport versus airport, port versus port, and infrastructure versus infrastructure.”a protester, Mohammed al-Gobisi, told AFP. “We will not tire of supporting our Palestinian brothers”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again warned on Thursday that his country would continue to strike the Houthis. “We are determined to cut off this terrorist branch from the Iranian axis of evil”he said after asking the army to “destroy infrastructure” of these rebels. “We will hunt down all the Houthi leaders (…)”threatened his Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Most Houthi attacks against Israel were countered or caused only material damage. But last Saturday, a missile injured 16 people in Tel Aviv, and in July, an Israeli civilian was killed in Tel Aviv by a drone explosion. Israel responded with airstrikes in Yemen, where the Houthis took control of Sanaa in 2014 after a blistering offensive, sparking civil war. The rebels also attack ships linked according to them to Israel, the United States or the United Kingdom, in the Red Sea and in the Gulf of Aden, despite strikes also carried out by the American army.
