Massive Israeli Attack on Sanaa During Houthi Leader’s Speech Nearly Kills Visiting WHO Head
14:48 GMT 26.12.2024 (Updated: 16:46 GMT 26.12.2024)
© AP Photo / Ariel Schalit
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Israel carried out a series of airstrikes in Yemen on Thursday, Israeli and Ansar Allah (Houthi) affiliated Yemeni media have reported. Here's what we know.
A Yemeni government source told Sputnik the strikes targeted the international airport in Sanaa and the al-Daylami airbase, and that additional attacks had been carried out in Hodeidah province. The aerial attack took place amid Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi’s weekly address to the nation.
A separate informed source told Sputnik that Israeli jets had launched two separate attacks on Hodeidah’s port and its environs, coinciding with the bombing of Sanaa, the capital, which involved at least six separate strikes.
Port of Hodeidah and Sanaa Airport in Yemen. Reports estimate Israel has carried out at least 10 attacks against Houthi sites in Yemen with US and UK support. pic.twitter.com/ds3UuHw21U
— dan linnaeus (@DanLinnaeus) December 26, 2024
IDF Confirms Attacks on Military, Civilian Infrastructure
The IDF confirmed later in the day Thursday that it had targeted the Sanaa airport.
"IAF fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the west coast and inland Yemen...The targets that were struck by the IDF include military infrastructure used by the Houthi[s]...for its military activities in both Sanaa International Airport and the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations. In addition, the IDF struck military infrastructure in the Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib ports on the western coast," the Israeli military said in a statement.
Houthi-aligned media said the attacks targeted civilian infrastructure, and were coordinated and supported by the US and Britain. The attacks disrupted the operation of Sanaa’s international airport, destroying the control tower and several facilities, including civilian aircraft. Houthi media also confirmed that power generation infrastructure had been targeted.
Houthi television network Al Masirah reported that three people were killed, with 11 more receiving injuries in the strikes. Government sources later told Sputnik that casualties had risen to four dead, with 16 people injured.
Al Masirah indicated that one person was confirmed killed and three others reported missing as a result of Israeli attacks on the Ras Isa port - which contains facilities for the unloading of oil tankers, and oil storage tanks.
Israeli officials said some 100 aircraft took part in Thursday's offensive operations, said to be Israel's largest attack on Yemen to date.
24 December 2024, 18:49 GMT
Israel Nearly Takes Out Visiting WHO Chief
A Sanaa Airport authority source told Sputnik that World Health Organization chief Tedros Ghebreyesus was at the airport at the time of the Israeli attacks and was preparing to board a private UN jet to leave the country.
The WHO chief confirmed as much in an X post.
"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. At least two people were reported killed at the airport. The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge - just a few meters from where we were - and the runway were damaged," he wrote.
Tedros Ghebreyesus was in Sanaa to negotiate the release of UN staff detained in Yemen and to assess the health and humanitarian situation in the country.
Attacks Follow Israeli Threats to Escalate
The strikes come days after a series of threats by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz to step up attacks on Yemen.
In his Hanukkah address Wednesday, Netanyahu warned that “the Houthis will also learn what Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime and others have learned, and this will also take time. This lesson will be learned across the Middle East.”
On Tuesday, Katz threatened to assassinate Ansar Allah's leaders. “Just as we dealt with Sinwar in Gaza, Haniyeh in Tehran and Nasrallah in Beirut, we will also deal with the heads of the Houthis in Sanaa and everywhere in Yemen.”
An Israeli official told local media after Thursday's strikes that they would not be the last. The US was reportedly informed of the attacks beforehand.
19 December 2024, 19:05 GMT
Israel’s bellicose statements come amid growing Houthi ballistic missile attacks on Israel – which have become increasingly effective in recent weeks in evading Israeli air defenses.
The Houthis launched a missile and drone campaign targeting Israel, and another operation in the Red and Arabian Sea targeting Israeli and Israel-linked merchant shipping, in the fall of 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Israeli bombing and ground invasion of Gaza. The Houthi campaign has cost Israel billions of dollars in lost shipping income, bankrupting its Red Sea port in Eilat, and forced the US and its allies to tie up considerable military resources in the region to try to halt the Houthi campaign, so far unsuccessfully.
Regional observers have reported on Israeli lobbying of the United States and regional allies on steps to to ramp up attacks against the militia, and expressed concerns that Tel Aviv seeks to reignite the Yemeni civil war to try to oust the Houthis from their strongholds in the country's northwest, including the capital.
23 December 2024, 17:54 GMT
