Israel attacked Yemen’s main airport in the Houthi-controlled capital of Sanaa just as the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) was going to depart, after a trip to seek the release of WHO health workers held by the Houthis.
“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,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. “At least two people were reported killed at the airport.”
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge – just a few metres from where we were – and the runway were damaged,” he said, adding that he was now waiting for the damaged airport to be repaired before he could depart with WHO staff.
Tedros was in Yemen as part of a mission to seek the release of detained UN staff and assess the health and humanitarian situations in the war-torn country.
He said the mission concluded today, and “we continue to call for the detainees’ immediate release”.
The WHO was founded after World War II as part of the United Nations. The Geneva-based organisation has about 7,000 workers and has provided medical support in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen.
Sanaa airport was struck by “more than six” attacks with raids also targeting the adjacent Al-Dailami air base, a witness in the Houthi-controlled capital told AFP.
A series of strikes were also fired at a power station in Hodeida, a witness told the AFP and the Houthis’ official Al-Masirah TV station said.
Two people died and 11 were wounded at the rebel-held capital’s airport, and one person was killed and three were missing at Ras Issa port, Houthi statements said.
Israel to attack ‘strategic infrastructure’
Israel vowed in recent days to ramp up its attacks on the Houthis. On Monday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would strike “strategic infrastructure and decapitate” the Houthi leadership.
“Just as we did to Haniyeh, Sinwar and Nasrallah, in Tehran, Gaza and Lebanon – we will do in Hodeidah and Sanaa,” Katz said, referring to the slain leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Dozens of people were injured in a rocket attack on Tel Aviv on Saturday claimed by the Houthis. The attack came after deadly Israeli strikes on ports and energy infrastructure in Houthi-held parts of Yemen on Thursday.
Israeli news sites have reported that Mossad director David Barnea has recommended targeting Iran directly in response to Houthi attacks.
It’s rare for pre-planned attacks to be launched on cities or locations with foreign dignitaries present. The Israeli attack on Sanaa airport as the WHO chief’s plane was about to take off puts the US ally in the camp of Russia and Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar in terms of recent examples.
Russia attacked the Ukrainian port city of Odessa when Greece’s prime minister was visiting in March, with missiles exploding metres away from him. Likewise, Haftar launched his 2019 attack on Tripoli when UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was in the city.
Israel’s military action against the Houthis was somewhat limited this year, as it focused on pummeling the Gaza Strip and fighting Hezbollah. But with the Lebanese group degraded, Hamas’s main leadership assassinated and Gaza reduced to rubble, Israel appears to be ramping up its attacks on Yemen.
The Houthis began to attack commercial vessels in the Red Sea in what they said was solidarity with besieged Palestinians in Gaza in November 2023. They have continued those attacks despite US and Israeli air strikes, even courting Russian assistance to enhance their missile arsenal and intelligence capabilities.
