The Israeli military said it fired on Yemen’s main airport on Tuesday, and witnesses said there were four strikes in the capital of Sanaa, the latest hostilities as tensions rise between Israel and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels.
Israel had earlier warned people to leave the area around Sanaa International Airport, one day after Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on Hodeidah port in Yemen in response to a Houthi missile landing near Israel’s main air hub on Sunday.
“Not evacuating puts you in danger,” the military said. It published a map of the area surrounding Sanaa International Airport.
Three airport sources told Reuters that Tuesday’s strikes targeted three civilian airplanes, the departures hall, the airport runway and a military air base under Houthi control.
Tensions have been rising between Israel and the Houthis as the group presses on with attacks in response to Israel expanding its military operations in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis said Sunday they would impose a “comprehensive” aerial blockade on Israel by repeatedly targeting its airports.
The Israelis strikes around Hodeidah on Monday killed four people and wounded 39, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said.
There was no immediate word of casualties in Tuesday’s hostilities.
Netanyahu vowed to retaliate
The Hodeidah port is the second-largest in the Red Sea, after Aden, and is the entry point for about 80 per cent of Yemen’s food imports. More than 10 strikes targeted the port and the Al Salakhanah and Al Hawak neighbourhoods in the city, five residents told Reuters. Four strikes also targeted a cement factory east of Hodeidah.
“The attack was carried out in response to repeated attacks carried out by the Houthi terrorist regime against the state of Israel in which surface-to-surface missiles and unmanned aircraft were launched at the territory of the state and its citizens,” the Israeli military said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate for Sunday’s missile attack, which was the first known to have escaped interception by Israel’s air defences in a series of attacks since March.
Houthi official Abdul Qader al-Mortada said in an X post commenting on the attack that Israel should wait for the “unimaginable.”
The Yemeni group resumed its attacks on Israel and shipping lanes following a brief suspension after the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza ended.
U.S. forces not actively involved, official says
The Houthis, who control Yemen, have been firing at Israel and shipping in the Red Sea since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians.
A U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said that U.S. forces were not actively involved in Monday’s strikes, but there is general co-ordination between the two allies.
Meanwhile, an oil company operated by the Houthis announced it has begun operating an emergency system for supplying cars with fuel, owing to difficulties in unloading cargo at the oil port of Ras Isa.
In a statement, the company attributed the decision to U.S. strikes on the country, including at the port.
U.S. President Donald Trump in March ordered large-scale strikes against the Houthis. The strikes have killed hundreds of people in Yemen while Israel has largely limited its strikes on Yemen since December of last year.
On Monday, Israel approved a plan that may include seizing the Gaza Strip for an unspecified amount of time and controlling aid to the Palestinian enclave.
The war in Gaza started after Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 saw 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s offensive on Gaza has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials have said, and destroyed much of the enclave.
