Israel pummels Yemen airport in reprisal against Huthis

AFP | Sanaa

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Israeli warplanes bombed the airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa yesterday, the latest retaliation for a missile strike by the Iran-backed Huthis that targeted Israel’s main airport. Plumes of thick, black smoke were seen billowing from the airport area after a series of strikes shook the impoverished Arab country’s capital.

Residents reported power outages in Sanaa and the Huthi-controlled port city of Hodeida, after the Israelis struck three electricity stations in and around the capital, according to the rebels.

Israel’s military said it took the airport “fully” out of action after hitting runways and aircraft. There were no immediate reports of casualties. A previous Israeli attack on the airport in December killed six people, according to Huthi media.

Israel has now launched two volleys of strikes after a Huthi missile penetrated the perimeter of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport for the first time on Sunday, leaving a large crater and wounding six people.

Huthi authorities said that on Monday four people were killed and 35 wounded as Israel’s initial reprisal strikes hit a cement factory and targets in Hodeida.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military said in a statement that its “fighter jets struck and dismantled Huthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport”.

“Flight runways, aircraft and infrastructure at the airport were struck.”

Israel targeted the airport because it “served as a central hub for the Huthi terrorist regime to transfer weapons and operatives”, the statement said.

Just before Tuesday’s attacks, Israel’s military urged Yemeni civilians to “immediately” evacuate the airport and “stay away from the area”.

“Failing to evacuate may put you at risk,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X in Arabic. The Huthis promised to hit back. The “aggression will not pass without a response and Yemen will not be discouraged from its stance in support of Gaza”, the Huthi political bureau said in a statement.