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Gulf Today
4 days ago
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Israel destroys last plane at Yemen's airport
Israeli air strikes blew up the last remaining plane at rebel-held Yemen's international airport, Israel and a Yemeni official said on Wednesday, weeks after an earlier attack inflicted major damage. An air raid involving multiple strikes hit the Yemenia Airways plane and the runway at Sanaa airport, the Houthi rebels' Al-Masirah TV channel posted on X, decrying 'Israeli aggression.' Thick black smoke was seen billowing from a stricken plane on the tarmac, in a video posted on X by Sanaa airport director Khaled Al-Shaief who said it was Yemenia's last operational aircraft. The airport had only resumed limited commercial services on May 17, according to Houthi authorities, after it was closed by a heavy Israeli attack that destroyed six planes 11 days earlier. The Houthis, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians, have been firing on Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, prompting reprisal strikes from Israel as well as the United States and Britain. Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said fighter jets targeted Houthi 'terror targets' at the airport, a day after the group fired two projectiles at Israel. 'Air Force jets have just struck terror targets of the Houthi terrorist organisation at the airport in Sanaa and destroyed the last aircraft remaining,' he said in a statement. An Israeli military statement said aircraft there 'were used by the Houthi terrorist organisation for the transfer of terrorists who advanced terrorist attacks against the state of Israel'. According to a statement from Yemenia, the plane was about to be boarded by Muslim pilgrims bound for the annual hajj pilgrimage in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The Houthis began their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in November 2023, weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, prompting British and US military strikes beginning in January 2024. Earlier this month, the United States agreed a ceasefire with the Houthi, ending weeks of intense American strikes on rebel-held areas. However, the Houthi have continued to fire frequent projectiles at Israel, including strikes targeting Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. Earlier this month, Israel threatened to target the Houthi leadership. United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg warned in a statement that clashes between the Houthis and Israel are 'exacerbating an already very fragile situation for Yemen and the region'. Agence France-Presse
Kuwait Times
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Kuwait Times
Rebel-held Yemen airport gets first flight since Zionist strike
SANAA: Members of Yemen's Houthi-affiliated security forces stand guard during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians in Sanaa on May 16, 2025. -- AFP SANAA: The airport in the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sanaa resumed limited commercial flights on Saturday, Houthi authorities said, after damage from Zionist air strikes forced a suspension earlier this month. 'Today we are resuming flights to and from Sanaa airport after its rehabilitation,' the Houthi administration's deputy transport minister, Yahya Al-Sayani, told the rebels' Al-Masirah television. The broadcaster earlier reported the 'arrival at Sanaa airport of a first Yemenia Airways flight with 136 passengers on board'. The airport, which since 2022 has handled UN humanitarian flights and a limited commercial service by Yemenia to and from Amman, was heavily bombed by Zionist entity on May 6 in response to a Houthi missile strike on Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv. The Sanaa airport's general director Khaled Al-Shaief put the cost at around $500 million. Yemenia's limited service between Sanaa and the Jordanian capital provides the sole commercial air link between rebel-held areas and the outside world. It is an exemption from an air blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia and its allies in 2015 when they intervened to prevent the beleaguered government being swept away by a lightning Houthi advance. Sayani said the Houthi authorities hoped to expand the service to two flights a day 'in the coming days'. The Iran-backed Huthis have carried out dozens of drone and missile attacks against Zionist entity since the Gaza war began with Hamas's attack in October 2023. —AFP The Yemeni rebels have also targeted Zionist-linked shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. On Friday, Zionist bombed the Houthi-held Red Sea ports of Hodeida and Salif following three missile attacks in as many days. It threatened to target the Houthi leadership if the attacks continued. – AFP
