Israel bombs Sanaa International Airport and destroys the last operational aircraft there.
Arabian Sea - Exclusive
Israel bombed Sanaa International Airport on Wednesday, destroying the last operating aircraft there, according to Yemeni sources in Sanaa, in response to the ongoing Houthi rebel attacks on the Hebrew state. A television channel affiliated with the Houthis announced that an Israeli bombing targeted the airport of the Yemeni capital on Wednesday. Hours later, the Director-General of Sanaa Airport, Khaled Al-Shayef, posted a video on his "X" account showing a Yemen Airways plane burning with thick black smoke rising from it. Al-Shayef wrote in another post, "The Zionist enemy is targeting the last of the Yemen Airways planes operating at Sanaa International Airport and completely destroying it." Yemen Airways published a statement on "X" condemning the attack, noting that it was carried out "just moments" before pilgrims were due to board, "as part of a scheduled transfer flight, which had obtained all the necessary permits from all concerned parties." Prior to the attack, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement that air force planes had bombed "terrorist targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist organization at Sanaa airport, and destroyed the last plane that was still in use by the Houthis." He added that "the ports in Yemen will continue to suffer severe damage, and Sanaa airport will be destroyed again and again, as well as other strategic infrastructure in the region used by the Houthi terrorist organization and its supporters. The Houthi terrorist organization will be under a naval and air siege as we promised and warned." The targeting of Sanaa airport came a day after the Israeli army announced the interception of a missile and a projectile launched from Yemen, in addition to shooting down a missile launched on Sunday and two other missiles launched by the Houthis on Thursday. The Houthis claimed responsibility for attacks in recent days targeting Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. The UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, condemned in a statement on Wednesday the "ongoing military confrontation between Ansar Allah and Israel," adding that it "exacerbates the fragility of the situation in Yemen and the region." The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying, "We operate according to a simple principle: whoever harms us, we will harm him. And whoever does not understand this through force, will understand it through greater force. But as I have said repeatedly, the Houthis are only a symptom. The main force behind them is Iran, which is responsible for the aggression coming from Yemen." Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on his X account in Arabic that the strikes on Wednesday targeted "air assets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime" that were being used "to transport terrorists to carry out terrorist attacks against the State of Israel." He added, "Similarly to the ports of Hodeidah and Salif, which were attacked last week, Sanaa airport is being used continuously by the Houthi terrorist regime for terrorist purposes." Grundberg said that the raid on Sanaa airport on Wednesday "deprives many Yemenis of an essential means of travel for medical, educational, family or religious purposes, especially at a time when thousands are preparing to perform the Hajj." Ten days ago, the General Authority of Civil Aviation and Meteorology in Sanaa announced in a statement broadcast by the Houthi-affiliated "Saba" news agency "the resumption of scheduled flights to and from Sanaa International Airport, following the completion of the technical and operational readiness of the airport." The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said that the rebels had decided "to implement the leadership's directives to begin working to impose a naval blockade on the port of Haifa," He pointed out that this step comes "in response to the Israeli enemy's escalation of its brutal aggression against our brothers and people in Gaza."
