Houthis, assessing $500 million damage from Israeli strikes on airport, vow response
Truce agreement with US won’t halt missile, drone attacks on Israel, vow Iran-backed Yemen rebels
Israel’s attack on the airport in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa destroyed terminal buildings and caused half a billion dollars in damage, its director told Houthi media on Wednesday.
Israel launched two days of strikes in response to the Iran-backed group’s repeated missile and drone attacks on the country, including one missile that hit inside the grounds of Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday.
On Tuesday the US announced it would end its bombing campaign against the Houthis who, it said, had agreed to stop attacking ships in vital Middle East maritime routes.
The agreement did not cover the Houthis’ attacks on Israel, and already on Wednesday, a drone launched apparently from Yemen was intercepted by the Israeli Air Force.
Khaled al-Shaief, the director of the Sanaa airport, told the rebels’ Al-Masirah television on Wednesday some $500 million in losses were caused by the Israeli strikes.
“The enemy destroyed the terminals at Sanaa airport, including all equipment and devices,” he said, adding that a warehouse was also “completely leveled.”
Yemenia Airways lost three planes, he noted, adding that six planes in total had been destroyed.
“There are alternatives to temporarily reopen the airport, and we need a long time to rehabilitate it and restore operations,” he said.
Sanaa’s airport reopened to international flights after a six-year gap in 2022, offering regular service to Jordan’s capital, Amman, on the homegrown Yemenia airline.
Those flying out of Sanaa have included Yemenis seeking emergency medical treatment abroad.
Houthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi told AFP the attack will “increase human suffering for sick people who need to travel abroad for treatment” and could make it harder to bring medical supplies in.
Houthi spokesman: US truce ’embarrasses Israel’
An unnamed spokesman for the Houthis told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the group’s recent ceasefire agreement with the US “serves the Palestinian cause and embarrasses Israel,” as officials confirmed the deal will not halt Houthi attacks on the Jewish state.
“We will continue targeting Israeli ships until aid is delivered to Gaza,” the unnamed Houthi spokesman told Al Jazeera, saying, “We will assess any future American support for Israel and determine our position accordingly.”
“Our response to the Israeli entity is inevitably coming,” he added, after Israeli Air Force fighter jets bombarded the airport, the Hodeida port and a concrete factory in Houthi-controlled areas over the last few days.
Mohammed Abdul-Salam, the chief Houthi negotiator, told Reuters that “the agreement does not include Israel in any way, shape or form.”
An Israeli official and a US official separately confirmed to AP that the Trump administration did not inform Jerusalem of the deal with the Houthis ahead of time.
Israel, instead, learned of the ceasefire when Trump announced it publicly during an oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The Houthis — whose slogan calls for “Death to America, Death to Israel, [and] a Curse on the Jews” — began attacking Israel and maritime traffic in November 2023, a month after the October 7 Hamas massacre.
Since March 18, when the IDF resumed its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after a ceasefire, the Houthis have launched some 27 ballistic missiles and several drones at Israel.
The sirens warning of missile attacks have sent hundreds of thousands of Israelis rushing to shelters at all hours of the night and day, causing a number of injuries in the scramble.
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