Head of WHO was at Yemen airport when it was hit by Israeli air strikes

Commercial flights are continuing to land at Yemen’s international airport in Sanaa, despite reports of damage to the facility from the Israeli air strikes.

We’ve just received this image of an Airbus A320 Yemenia Airways flight as it heads towards the airport, shortly after the strikes happened.

Israeli Air Force (IAF) Commander Maj Gen Tomer Bar says its strikes on Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen show what Israel is “capable of…and much more”.

“We have just seen a tangible demonstration of what we are capable of, and we are capable of much more.”

As a reminder, Israeli says it hit Houthi targets at the international airport in Sanaa, two power stations and key ports.

At least three people have been killed by the strikes and about 11 injured, according to Yemen’s Houthi-run broadcaster Al Masirah.

As we’ve been reporting, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was at the airport in Sanaa when it was struck by Israel.

Tedros says he was in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff and assess the humanitarian situation in the country.

In June, the UN confirmed that 13 staff members were detained by the Houthis in Yemen.

The employees were taken in various parts of the country, in what appears to have been a co-ordinated crackdown.

They detentions came as the Houthis faced increasing economic difficulties and air strikes carried out by a US-led coalition.

The Houthis have been targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, triggering retaliatory air strikes by the US and its allies.

Before those comments from the WHO’s Dr Tedros, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made his first public remarks about the strikes on Yemen.

“We will continue to cut off the terror arm of the Iranian axis of evil until we complete the job,” he said, speaking from an air force base.

Defence Minister Israel Katz, who was also there, said: “We will hunt down all the Houthi leaders – no one will be able to evade Israel’s long arm.”

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam has described today’s strikes as “a Zionist crime against all the Yemeni people”, AFP reports.

Israel’s strikes came after several attacks by the Houthis, including one in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

More lines now from the director-general of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) statement.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says his team will need to wait for the “damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave”.

“My UN and WHO colleagues and I are safe,” he adds.

“Our heartfelt condolences to the families whose loved ones lost their lives in the attack.”

Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was in Sanaa airport at the time of the attack.

He says: “As we were about to board our flight from Sana’a, about two hours ago, the airport came under aerial bombardment.

“One of our plane’s crew members was injured. At least two people were reported killed at the airport.

“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged.”

The BBC has verified social media footage from Sanaa airport, after the Israeli air strikes.

Yemen’s Houthi-run broadcaster Al Masirah is reporting that three people were killed in the strikes, and a further 11 were wounded.

Two of those were reportedly killed at the airport in Sanaa, with the other at the Ras Issa port.

It is unclear whether they were civilians or Houthi rebels.

Iran has described Israel’s strikes against Yemen as a “violation” of peace and security.

“These aggressions are a clear violation of international peace and security and an undeniable crime against the heroic and noble people of Yemen, who have not spared any effort to support the oppressed people of Palestine against the occupation and genocide,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei, according to AFP.

For context: The Houthis in Yemen are backed by Iran, and Iran has been accused of smuggling weapons to the rebels.

As we reported earlier, the Houthi missile strike on Tel Aviv on Saturday prompted a warning from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I have instructed our forces to destroy the infrastructure of Houthis because anyone who tries to harm us will be struck with full force,” Netanyahu told parliament, according to the AFP news agency.

“We will continue to crush the forces of evil with strength and ingenuity, even if it takes time.”

The Houthis are an armed political and religious group that formed in the 1990s and champions Yemen’s Shia Muslim minority, the Zaidis.

They declare themselves to be part of the Iranian-led “axis of resistance” against Israel, the US and the wider West – along with armed groups such as Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

In the early 2000s, the Houthis fought a series of rebellions against Yemen’s authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

During the 2011 Arab Spring uprising, President Saleh was forced to give power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, but his government had many problems.

The Houthis seized control of the northern province of Saada and the capital, Sanaa, after forming an unlikely alliance with Saleh and security forces still loyal to him.

But neighbouring Saudi Arabia feared the Houthis would take over Yemen and make it a satellite of Iran.

The Saudis formed a coalition of Arab countries that intervened in the war. But years of air strikes and ground fighting did not dislodge the Houthis.

More lines now from the IDF statement on the attacks in Yemen.

The Israeli military says it struck “military targets” belonging to the Houthis because the rebel group has “repeatedly attacked” Israel.

It adds that military targets were used by the Houthis to “smuggle Iranian weapons” into the region and to allow the entry of Iranian officials.

The Houthis are a “central part of the Iranian axis of terror, and their attacks on international shipping vessels and routes continue to destabilise the region and the wider world,” it says.

The IDF statement says Israel has hit:

• “Military infrastructure” used by Houthis at Sanaa International Airport
• The Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations
• “Military infrastructure” in the Al-Hudaydah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib ports on the west coast of Yemen

Israel has confirmed attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen.

We’ll bring you more details from the IDF statement shortly.

More details now on where the air strikes took place.

The international airport in the capital, Sanaa, was hit, along with the al-Dailami military base which shares a runway with the airport, and a power plant in the coastal city of Hudaydah.

That’s according to AFP news agency, which is citing witnesses and Houthi rebels.

A Houthi missile strike injured more than a dozen people in Israel last week.

A projectile launched from Yemen landed in a public park in Tel Aviv early on Saturday, the Israeli military said, adding that attempts to shoot it down had been unsuccessful.

A Houthi military spokesman said the group hit a military target using a hypersonic ballistic missile.

Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s emergency medical service, said it treated 16 people who were “mildly injured” by glass shards from shattered windows in nearby buildings.

Another 14 people who suffered minor injuries on their way to protected areas were also treated, it said.

Houthis have been attacking Israel with drones and missiles since the first months of the Gaza war, which began in October 2023.

Israel has carried out intermittent strikes against Houthis in retaliation since then.

Air strikes have reportedly hit the international airport in Yemen’s capital Sanaa and the Red Sea port of Hudaydah.

Yemen’s Houthi-run broadcaster Al Masirah has blamed Israel for the strikes.

Israel has not commented but had earlier warned of attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen, in response to attacks on Israel.

We’ll have more on this developing story soon.