Israeli attacks hit Sanaa airport in Yemeni capital

Israeli warplanes launched air strikes on the Sanaa airport in the Yemeni capital on Tuesday, shortly after ordering residents to evacuate, according to the Houthi group, Anadolu reports.

Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV said several strikes targeted the airport. Warplanes also hit power stations in the districts of Dhahaban, Asr, Hezyaz, and Attan area in Sanaa, it said.

The broadcaster said the strikes also hit a cement factory in Amran province near Sanaa.

It said at least three people were killed and 35 injured.

Yemen Airways announced it suspended all flights to and from the Sanaa International Airport until further notice after the strikes struck the company’s facility, setting three commercial aircraft on fire.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee confirmed the strikes that he said targeted Houthi infrastructure at the airport.

READ: Israel orders Yemenis near Sanaa airport to evacuate ahead of possible attacks

He said attacks also targeted power stations in Sanaa and a cement factory in nearby Amran province.

The Israeli army ordered residents near the airport to immediately evacuate ahead of the attacks.

At least four people were killed and dozens injured Monday in joint Israeli-US strikes in the coastal province of Al-Hudaydah, one day after a Houthi missile strike hit the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.

The Houthi group called that strike a “warning” to international airlines that the Israeli airport is “unsafe for civilian aviation.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to respond militarily to Yemen and Iran following the attack.

Yemen has faced an intensified US military campaign since mid-March, including around 1,300 air and naval strikes, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties, according to the Houthi group.

The Houthis have targeted ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where more than 52,600 victims have been killed in a brutal Israeli assault for more than 19 months, most of them women and children.

The group halted attacks when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, but resumed them after Israel’s renewed air strikes on Gaza in March.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

READ: Yemeni missile penetrates Israel air defences, fragments fall on Ben Gurion Airport