Aden: The Israeli military said it fired on Yemen’s main airport on Tuesday and witnesses said there were four strikes in the capital 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 Israeli military said in its warning, and it published a map of the area surrounding the 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 on 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.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate after a missile launched by Houthis landed near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, which led to European and U.S. airlines cancelling flights.
The Houthis have been firing at Israel and shipping in the Red Sea since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians.
(Reporting by Tala Ramadan in Dubai and Mohammed Ghobari in Aden; Writing by Ahmed Elimam and Michael Georgy; Editing by Ros Russel and Timothy Heritage)