Israeli warplanes hit targets across Yemen on Thursday, including the international airport, energy facilities and ports, in retaliation for missile strikes by Iran-backed Houthi militants on the Jewish state.
Israel’s military said on Thursday it had conducted “intelligence-based strikes” on targets used by the Yemen-based Houthi rebels for “military activities”, as well as entry points into the country used by Iranian officials and weapons smugglers.
Among the sites struck were Sana’a international airport, two power stations and three ports on the country’s western coast including Hodeidah.
At least four people were killed and 16 injured during the strikes, according to local media reports from Yemen, although the scale of the damage to the various facilities remained unclear.
A humanitarian delegation led by World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was present at Sana’a airport during the attacks.
According to a statement by Tedros, one of the delegation’s air crew members was injured, although he said the UN and WHO officials were “safe”.
“We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave,” he added.
According to Israeli media reports, some two dozen fighter jets took part in the daytime raid, the fourth such direct attack by Israel on Yemen since last summer and the second in as many weeks, after the Houthis recently stepped up missile attacks on the Jewish state.
“We are determined to sever this terrorist arm of Iran’s axis of evil. We will persist in this until we complete the job,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
At least five ballistic missiles have been fired at central Israel over the past 10 days, including early on Christmas morning, sending millions of residents rushing to bomb shelters.
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