Israel strikes Houthi-controlled airport in Yemen’s capital

Israeli jets struck the airport in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, on Tuesday in retaliation for a Houthi missile strike last weekend, according to Yemeni media.

Israeli forces also launched strikes on a power station in Sanaa and a cement plant around Amran, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV said.

Earlier in the day, the Israel Defense Forces warned people to leave the airport.

“Failure to evacuate and stay away from the place exposes you to danger,” a spokesperson for the IDF said in Arabic on X.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond to a missile strike on Sunday that landed near Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, causing some injuries. 

The Israeli military said it failed to take down the missile due to a “technical issue” with an interceptor launched by air defense systems.

The Houthis have regularly fired drones and missiles toward Israel, which lies about 1,700 kilometers away from Yemen. The Iran-backed militant group, which controls Sanaa and other parts of Yemen, says its acting in solidarity with Palestinians as the Israel-Hamas war continues in Gaza.

President Donald Trump restarted US strikes against the Houthis in mid-March, saying he wanted to stop them attacking commercial vessels and warships in the southern Red Sea, a key waterway for global trade.

Those strikes, and others by the UK as well as Israel itself, have so far failed to deter the Houthis.