Supporters of the Houthis demonstrated en masse on Friday in Sanaa to protest Israeli strikes carried out on Yemen on Thursday in response to missile and drone attacks launched by Yemeni rebels against Israel.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the center of the Yemeni capital to also renew their support for the Palestinians.
One of the demonstrators set fire to an Israeli flag. Another brandished a banner declaring that “Israel will no longer be able to sleep”, an allusion to the Houthis’ missile attacks on Israel which set off the warning sirens and push the Israelis in shelters.
In the morning, the rebels, supported by Iran, claimed to have fired a missile at the Israeli airport of Ben Gurion, the day after Israeli raids on the airport of Sanaa, the port of Hodeida (west) and other targets in areas they control in Yemen.
The Houthis also claimed, in a statement, to have launched drones on Tel Aviv and on a ship in the Arabian Sea.
“The equation has changed and has now become: airport versus airport, port versus port, and infrastructure versus infrastructure,” a protester in Sanaa, Mohammed al-Gobisi, told AFP on Friday.
“We will not tire of supporting our Palestinian brothers,” he added
“You will not break the Yemeni people, you will not humiliate them and you will not subjugate them, even if they die of hunger,” added another demonstrator Omar Abdallah to the Israelis.
In the aftermath of the Israeli strikes, the Houthis assured that “Israeli aggression would only strengthen the determination and will of the Yemeni people to continue to support the Palestinian people.”
The Israeli military said earlier Friday that a missile targeting central Israel was intercepted before reaching Israeli territory, without giving details of possible other attacks.
On Thursday, Israeli planes attacked Sanaa airport from where the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was preparing to leave the country.
– The head of the WHO in Amman –
Mr. Tedros indicated on X that he arrived in Amman on Friday. He further said that a UN staff member injured in the Israeli raid on Sanaa airport was evacuated to Jordan, where he will receive “further medical treatment.”
Four people were killed in the airport attack and around 20 travelers and staff were injured, Deputy Transport Minister in the rebel administration Yahya al-Sayani said on Friday. Two other people were killed elsewhere in the country in Israeli raids, according to the Houthis.
Mr. Sayani, who spoke at a press conference, indicated that flights had resumed at 10:00 a.m. local time (07:00 GMT) on Friday.
Military sites, power plants and port facilities were also targeted by the Israeli strikes, which followed missile and drone attacks by the Houthis against Israel.
Sayani said the Israeli attack on the airport took place Thursday as many passengers were preparing to board a flight from Sanaa and another plane was preparing to land. This device was finally able to do so after the attack.
“The passengers were evacuated in accordance with an emergency plan,” he said.
The control tower was “directly affected” in addition to the departure room and navigation equipment,” the official said.
