An air raid involving multiple strikes hit the Yemenia Airways plane and the runway at Sanaa airport, the Huthi rebels' Al-Masirah TV channel posted on X, decrying "Israeli aggression".
Thick black smoke was seen billowing from a stricken plane on the tarmac, in a video posted on X by Sanaa airport director Khaled al-Shaief who said it was Yemenia's last operational aircraft.
The airport had only resumed limited commercial services on May 17, according to Huthi authorities, after it was closed by a heavy Israeli attack that destroyed six planes 11 days earlier.
The Huthis, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians, have been firing on Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, prompting reprisal strikes from Israel as well as the United States and Britain.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said fighter jets targeted Huthi "terror targets" at the airport, a day after the group fired two projectiles at Israel.
"Air Force jets have just struck terror targets of the Huthi terrorist organisation at the airport in Sanaa and destroyed the last aircraft remaining," he said in a statement.
An Israeli military statement said aircraft there "were used by the Huthi terrorist organisation for the transfer of terrorists who advanced terrorist attacks against the state of Israel".
According to a statement from Yemenia, the plane was about to be boarded by Muslim pilgrims bound for the annual hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
- 'Fragile situation' -
The Huthis began their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in November 2023, weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, prompting British and US military strikes beginning in January 2024.
Earlier this month, the United States agreed a ceasefire with the Huthis, ending weeks of intense American strikes on rebel-held areas.
However, the Huthis have continued to fire frequent projectiles at Israel, including strikes targeting Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. Earlier this month, Israel threatened to target the Huthi leadership.
United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg warned in a statement that clashes between the Huthis and Israel are "exacerbating an already very fragile situation for Yemen and the region".
The Huthis had earlier paused their attacks during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza that collapsed in March.
The rebels have been at war with a Saudi-led coalition since 2015 in a conflict that has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and triggered a major humanitarian crisis in Yemen, although fighting has decreased significantly since a UN-negotiated six-month truce in 2022.
That year the airport, closed for six years during the war, reopened to commercial flights and has offered services to and from Amman in Jordan.
Israeli warplanes again strike Houthi-controlled Sanaa int'l airport
Washington DC (UPI) May 28, 2025 -
Israeli warplanes struck the Houthi-controlled Sanaa International Airport in Yemen on Wednesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said, seemingly in response to missiles recently launched by the militant group toward Israel.
The IDF said in a statement on X that its airstrikes targeted unidentified aircraft belonging to the Houthis.
"The aircraft that were attacked were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to transport terrorists who promoted terrorist acts against the State of Israel," it said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strike destroyed the last remaining planes used by the Houthis at the site that remained following the IDF's previous attack on the airport on May 6.
"This is a clear message and a direct continuation of the policy we established: Whoever fires at the State of Israel will pay a heavy price," Katz said in the statement, The Times of Israel reported.
"The ports in Yemen will continue to be struck heavily, and the airport in Sanaa will be destroyed again and again, as will other strategic infrastructures in the area used by the Houthi terror organization and its supporters."
Houthis, an Iran-backed group, have repeatedly attacked Israel since early in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, in response to Hamas' brutal attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw another 251 kidnapped.
The involvement of the Houthis, also an Iran-proxy militia, increased starting in mid-November when it started to enforce a military blockade of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, vowing to attack Israeli ships attempting to pass. It said the blockade was in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The rebels followed by broadening targets to include U.S. military ships.
Israel, with its allies, including the United States, have responded with conducting mass airstrikes in Yemen.
On May 6, Israel attacked the airport in Sanaa, and last week conducted similar airstrikes on ports in Hodeidah and al-Salif.
On Tuesday, the IDF said it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen.
"This is another example of the Houthi terrorist organization's brutal use of civilian infrastructure for terrorist activities," the IDF said Wednesday morning on X, seemingly in reference to the Sanaa airport.
"The IDF is determined to continue to act and strike with force anyone who poses a threat to the residents of the State of Israel, at whatever distance is required."
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