The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was at the international airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, during Israeli airstrikes, reported on Thursday via X that he and his WHO colleagues were unharmed.
Houthi rebels stated that the attacks had resulted in at least three fatalities.
Mr. Tedros mentioned that at least two people were reportedly killed at the airport, while a crew member of his plane was injured. “The control tower, departure hall – just a few metres from where we were – and the runway were damaged,” he wrote.
The WHO team must now wait for the damage to be repaired before they can leave Yemen.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the military strikes on Yemen on Thursday. He declared that Israel would continue to target the Houthi rebels “until the job is done.”
“We are determined to cut off this terrorist branch of the Iranian axis of evil,” Netanyahu said in a video published by his office.
The Israeli strikes targeted the Saana airport, the Hodeida harbour, weapons storages and power plants in the country. According to Israel, the infrastructure is used by Houthi regime to transfer Iranian weapons.
Despite Israeli warnings, the regime has continued to launch missiles against central almost every night during the last week, sending millions of people to shelters in the middle of the night. All missiles besides one were intercepted outside Israel.
The Houthi regime is the last of Iran’s proxies in the Middle East and the most independent of them that continue to fire missiles against Israel in solidarity with Gaza where the war still continues. Judging by the defiant statements of the regime, it is not like to be deterred by the Israeli air strikes.
The Houthis, which control the capital and parts of the Yemen fought for years a war against Saudi Arabia which devastated the country and caused a humanitarian disaster.
Following the Israel-Hamas war, the Houthis started also to attack merchant ships in the Red Sea and disrupt the freedom of navigation there. These illegal attacks, which have caused shipping companies to avoid the waterway, have been condemned by the international community and EU, including Belgium.
