CAUGHT IN AN ATTACK, WHO CHIEF FACES WAR

Agencies JERUSALEM/SANA’A 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned airstrikes on Yemen will continue after World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom was caught up in a deadly attack on Sana'a airport on Thursday. The Houthi said six people had died in the strikes.

The Yemen-based, Iran-backed Houthis vowed to retaliate and hours later, hit back. A Times of Israel report on Friday quoted  a Houthi spokesperson saying the group takes responsibility for the overnight ballistic missile attack on Israel, claiming to have targeted BenGurion Airport.

According to agencies reports, the latest Houthi attacks targeted an   "industrial zone of the Israeli military"in Ashkelon, a city in southern Israel. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree confirmed the attack, stating that it successfully achieved its intended goals.According to Saree, the two-stage operation involved precision strikes on two critical Israeli positions: a key industrial zone of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in Ashkelon and a vital Israeli position in Tel Aviv's Yaffa.

This marks significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the Houthis and Israel. The Houthis claimed that “the missile succeeded in reaching its target despite the enemy’s censorship, and the operation resulted in casualties and the cessation of navigation at the airport”.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said a missile launched from Yemen was “intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory”. No injuries were reported, Israel’s emergency service said. There were no reports of impact at the airport. Flight arrivals were reportedly halted for 30 minutes.

The Houthis are yet to comment on the intercepted missile. The Houthis said they had also  targeted a container ship in the Arabian Sea with several drones. The Iran-backed group has vowed to continue their attacks on Israel “until the aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted”.

Israeli forces unleashed a series of strikes on the Yemeni capital Sana’a and the western city of Hodeidah on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring several, the Houthis said in a statement.

An assault on the capital’s airport hit as a “high-level UN delegation,” led by World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was due to fly out of it, a UN spokesperson said in a statement. “The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about intensified escalation in Yemen and Israel,” the statement added.

A crew member on the plane was injured and at least two people were reported killed at the airport.  Ghebreyesus had been in Yemen to negotiate the release of UN staff detained by the Houthis and assess the humanitarian situation.

The Israeli military said that it also hit military infrastructure at the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Kanatib on Yemen’s west coast. It also attacked the country’s Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s airstrikes would “continue until the job is done”. “We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil,” he said in a video statement.