Israeli fighter jets targeted sites in Yemen on Thursday, including the capital Sana'a's international airport, in response to attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi movement.
The Houthi-controlled health ministry said at least six people were killed and 42 wounded.
“Fighter jets carried out intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the west coast and inside Yemen,” said a statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The IDF said one of the targets was infrastructure belonging to the Houthi militia at Sana'a airport. Several ports, including Hodeidah, as well as two of the country's power plants, were also hit.
Israel accused the Houthi militia of using civilian infrastructure for military purposes, such as smuggling weapons from Iran.
The Houthis said the airport was hit along with the Ras Isa power plant and oil port, in the western province of Hodeidah.
Anis Al Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Health, told dpa that the bombing of Sana'a airport killed three people and wounded 30 others, while strikes on Ras Issa port killed one person and wounded 12 others.
“This tax is still preliminary,” he said.
An official at the airport told dpa that the strikes had targeted the waiting lounge, the facility's control tower and large parts of the runway.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the bombing was carried out five minutes before a flight operated by the national carrier Yemenia from Amman, Jordan, landed.
A team from the World Health Organization (WHO), including its director general, came under fire in the Israeli attack on Sana'a airport.
“When we were about to board our flight from Sana'a, about two hours ago, the airport came under aerial bombardment,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
“One of our flight 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 us – and the runway was ruined.”
Members of the UN and WHO delegation were unharmed and safe, he said. “Our heartfelt condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in the attack,” Tedros wrote.
The strikes coincided with a televised speech given by the leader of the militia Abdel-Malek al-Houthi.
The spokesman for the militia, Mohammed Abdel-Salam, responded defiantly.
“If the Zionist enemy (Israel) thinks that its crimes will stop Yemen from supporting Gaza, it is delusional. Yemen will not abandon its religious and humanitarian principles,” Abdel-Salam said on the X social media platform.
UN Secretary General António Guterres called for de-escalation in a statement released late Thursday.
“Today's Israeli airstrikes on Sana'a International Airport, Red Sea ports and power stations in Yemen are particularly alarming,” Guterres said, according to a spokesman.
“The Secretary-General condemns the escalation between Yemen and Israel,” the statement said.
The Israeli airstrikes followed about a year of “escalating actions” by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the region “which threaten civilians, regional stability and freedom of navigation,” Guterres said. He called on all party to protect the civilian population and civilian infrastructure.
After recent rocket attacks by the Houthis on the Tel Aviv area, the head of the Israeli Air Force announced tougher counter-attacks on the Islamic militia in Yemen, a poor and war-torn country.
The Houthis are allied with Israel's arch-enemy Iran, as are Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
Since the Gaza war began more than a year ago, Yemen's Houthis have targeted Israel and merchant ships in the Red Sea, saying that these actions are in solidarity with Gaza.
