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Smoke rises near Sana'a International Airport, after Israeli strikes hit the capital Sana'a, in Yemen, on December 26. (Khaled Abdullah/Reuters via CNN Newsource)
By Mohammed Tawfeeq, Mostafa Salem and Irene Nasser, CNN
(CNN) — Israeli forces unleashed a series of strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa and the western city of Hodeidah on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring dozens more, the Houthi militant group 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 spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.
“The Secretary-General is gravely concerned about intensified escalation in Yemen and Israel,” the statement added.
The Yemen-based, Iran-backed Houthis vowed to retaliate, and hours later Israel’s military said a missile launched from Yemen was “intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory.” No injuries were reported, Israel’s emergency service said.
The Houthis have yet to comment on the intercepted missile.
The strike on Sanaa International Airport killed at least three people and injured 30 others, the Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported. WHO chief Tedros said he and a UN team were about to get on a plane when the airport came under bombardment.
“As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa… the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured,” Tedros said in a statement, adding that he and his team are safe.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged. We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave.”
The UN statement said the delegation “had just concluded discussions on the humanitarian situation in Yemen and the release of UN and other detained personnel.”
The organization’s Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) will temporarily suspend operations at the airport, Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Programme, which manages the air service, said in a post on X.
UNHAS provides passenger and light cargo transport for the humanitarian community to and from areas of crisis.
McCain said the suspension “will negatively impact the humanitarian response at a time of immense and growing needs.”
Further west of Sanaa, at least three people were killed and 10 others injured in the attack on Hodeidah, reported al-Masirah. The strikes hit the ports of Hodeidah and Ras Issa, and a power station in Hodeidah governorate, the Houthis added.
The strikes injured at least 40 people in total, the Houthis said, calling the attack “a brutal aggression” as it vowed revenge.
Hezam al-Asad, a member of the militant group’s political council, threatened Israel in a post in Hebrew on X, saying “Gush Dan is no longer safe.” Gush Dan is a metropolitan area in central Israel that includes Tel Aviv.
The Israeli military said on Thursday it hit “military targets” belonging to the Houthis.
“The targets that were struck by the IDF include military infrastructure used by the Houthi terrorist regime for its military activities in both the Sanaa International Airport and the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.
In addition, the IDF said it had struck “military infrastructure” in the Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Kanatib ports on the western coast.
The Houthis hold large swaths of territory in Yemen, including Sanaa.
Along with Hamas and Hezbollah, they are part of an Iran-led alliance spanning much of the region that has attacked Israel and its allies since the beginning of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 45,300 Palestinians.
The Israeli military has repeatedly struck Yemen since launching its war in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7 attack.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said strikes on Yemen would not stop “until the mission is complete.” Speaking from Israel’s Air Force Command Center on Thursday, he said “we will persist in severing the terror arm of Iran’s axis of evil until the mission is complete.”
Months-long hostility
The UN delegation was in Yemen to negotiate the release of UN staff detainees and to assess the health and humanitarian situation there. On behalf of the WHO, Tedros sent his condolences to the families whose loved ones lost their lives in the attack, the statement read.
The United States and the United Kingdom have previously struck the Houthis after the group disrupted shipping in the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest waterways. The US State Department considers the Houthis a global terrorist organization.
Last week, a projectile fired from Yemen hit Tel Aviv, Israel’s second-largest city, injuring at least 16 people. Days before, Israel intercepted another missile launched by the Houthis, with shrapnel causing extensive damage to a school near Tel Aviv.
CNN’s James Legge, Lauren Izso, Edward Szekeres and Kareem El Damanhoury contributed reporting.
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