UN official denies Israeli claim Yemen airport was military target
By AFP
By AFP
December 27, 2024
Thge control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26 - Copyright AFP Mohammed HUWAIS
The top UN official for humanitarian aid in Yemen, who narrowly dodged an aerial bombing raid by Israel on Sanaa’s airport, denied Friday that the facility had any military purpose.
Israel said that it was targeting “military infrastructure” in Thursday’s raids and that targets around the country were used by Huthis to “smuggle Iranian weapons” and bring in senior Iranian officials.
UN humanitarian coordinator Julien Harneis said the airport “is a civilian location that is used by the United Nations.”
“It’s used by the International Committee of the Red Cross, it is used for civilian flights –- that is its purpose,” he told reporters by video link from Yemen.
“Parties to the conflict have an obligation to ensure that they are not striking civilian targets,” he added. “The obligation is on them, not on us. We don’t need to prove we’re civilians.”
Harneis described how he, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and 18 other UN staff, were caught up in the attack, which he said also took place as a packed airliner was touching down nearby.
One UN staffer was seriously wounded in the strikes, which destroyed the air traffic control facility, Harneis said. The rest of the team was bundled into armored vehicles for safety.
“There was one air strike approximately 300 meters (985 feet) to the south of us and another air strike approximately 300 meters to the north of us,” he said.
“What was most frightening about that air strike wasn’t the effect on us -– it’s that the air strikes took place… as a civilian airliner from Yemenia Air, carrying hundreds of Yemenis, was about to land,” he said.
“In fact, that airliner from Yemenia Air was landing, taxiing in, when the air traffic control was destroyed.”
Although the plane “was able to land safely… it could have been far, far worse.”
The Israeli attack, he said came with “zero indication of any potential air strikes.”
Harneis said the airport is “absolutely vital” to continued humanitarian aid for Yemen. “If that airport is disabled, it will paralyze humanitarian operations.”
The United Nations has labeled Yemen “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world,” with 24.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid and protection.
Public institutions that provide healthcare, water, sanitation and education have collapsed in the wake of years of war.
The Huthis control large parts of Yemen after seizing Sanaa and ousting the internationally recognized government in September 2014.
Israel’s strikes come as the group has stepped up its own long-range attacks on Israel in the wake of a ceasefire between Israel and another Iran-backed group, Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Thge control tower of Sanaa international airport was damaged by the strikes on December 26 - Copyright AFP Mohammed HUWAIS
The top UN official for humanitarian aid in Yemen, who narrowly dodged an aerial bombing raid by Israel on Sanaa’s airport, denied Friday that the facility had any military purpose.
Israel said that it was targeting “military infrastructure” in Thursday’s raids and that targets around the country were used by Huthis to “smuggle Iranian weapons” and bring in senior Iranian officials.
UN humanitarian coordinator Julien Harneis said the airport “is a civilian location that is used by the United Nations.”
“It’s used by the International Committee of the Red Cross, it is used for civilian flights –- that is its purpose,” he told reporters by video link from Yemen.
“Parties to the conflict have an obligation to ensure that they are not striking civilian targets,” he added. “The obligation is on them, not on us. We don’t need to prove we’re civilians.”
Harneis described how he, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and 18 other UN staff, were caught up in the attack, which he said also took place as a packed airliner was touching down nearby.
One UN staffer was seriously wounded in the strikes, which destroyed the air traffic control facility, Harneis said. The rest of the team was bundled into armored vehicles for safety.
“There was one air strike approximately 300 meters (985 feet) to the south of us and another air strike approximately 300 meters to the north of us,” he said.
“What was most frightening about that air strike wasn’t the effect on us -– it’s that the air strikes took place… as a civilian airliner from Yemenia Air, carrying hundreds of Yemenis, was about to land,” he said.
“In fact, that airliner from Yemenia Air was landing, taxiing in, when the air traffic control was destroyed.”
Although the plane “was able to land safely… it could have been far, far worse.”
The Israeli attack, he said came with “zero indication of any potential air strikes.”
Harneis said the airport is “absolutely vital” to continued humanitarian aid for Yemen. “If that airport is disabled, it will paralyze humanitarian operations.”
The United Nations has labeled Yemen “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world,” with 24.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid and protection.
Public institutions that provide healthcare, water, sanitation and education have collapsed in the wake of years of war.
The Huthis control large parts of Yemen after seizing Sanaa and ousting the internationally recognized government in September 2014.
Israel’s strikes come as the group has stepped up its own long-range attacks on Israel in the wake of a ceasefire between Israel and another Iran-backed group, Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
State media reports at least four people were killed and 21 others injured.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a press briefing at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on December 10, 2024.
(Photo: Lian Yi/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Jessica Corbett
Dec 26, 2024
COMMON DREAMS
As part of Israel's assault on various countries across the Middle East, Israeli fighter jets on Thursday bombed multiple sites in Yemen, including Sanaa International Airport, killing multiple people and threatening the life of a leading United Nations official.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and colleagues were at the airport, wrapping up a trip "to negotiate the release of U.N. staff detainees and to assess the health and humanitarian situation in Yemen," when the attack occurred, the agency leader said on social media. "We continue to call for the detainees' immediate release."
"As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa, about two hours ago, the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane's crew members was injured," Tedros explained, noting the reported deaths. "The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge—just a few meters from where we were—and the runway were damaged. We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave. My U.N. and WHO colleagues and I are safe. Our heartfelt condolences to the families whose loved ones lost their lives in the attack."
According toThe New York Times: "At least four people were killed and 21 others injured in the attack on Thursday after Israel struck the international airport in Sana and the city of al Hodeida, the Saba state news agency said, citing Yemen's Health Ministry. The report could not be independently verified."
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, told the Times that Israel had no prior knowledge that the WHO leader would be at the airport during the attack. "We didn't know," he said. "We wish him well."
The IDF said in a statement posted on social media that "fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes" with approval from Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The targets that were struck by the IDF include military infrastructure used by the Houthi terrorist regime for its military activities in both the Sanaa International Airport and the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations," the military continued. "In addition, the IDF struck military infrastructure in the al Hodeida, Salif, and Ras Kanatib ports on the western coast. These military targets were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials."
Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the U.S.-armed IDF has not only decimated the Gaza Strip and killed over 45,000 Palestinians there but also ramped up strikes on other groups tied to Iran, including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Additionally, Israel has exploited the recent collapse of Syrian former President Bashar al-Assad's government, seizing more territory in that country.
"The targeting of Sanaa International Airport and other civilian infrastructure is a Zionist crime against the entire Yemeni people," a Houthi spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said in a statement. "If the Zionist enemy thinks that its crimes will deter Yemen from supporting Gaza, it is delusional."
The strikes on Yemen came a day after Netanyahu said that "the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime, and others have learned, and even if it takes time, this lesson will be understood across the Middle East."
Israel's ongoing destruction of Gaza has led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as a Hamas leader.
Dec 26, 2024
COMMON DREAMS
As part of Israel's assault on various countries across the Middle East, Israeli fighter jets on Thursday bombed multiple sites in Yemen, including Sanaa International Airport, killing multiple people and threatening the life of a leading United Nations official.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and colleagues were at the airport, wrapping up a trip "to negotiate the release of U.N. staff detainees and to assess the health and humanitarian situation in Yemen," when the attack occurred, the agency leader said on social media. "We continue to call for the detainees' immediate release."
"As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa, about two hours ago, the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane's crew members was injured," Tedros explained, noting the reported deaths. "The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge—just a few meters from where we were—and the runway were damaged. We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave. My U.N. and WHO colleagues and I are safe. Our heartfelt condolences to the families whose loved ones lost their lives in the attack."
According toThe New York Times: "At least four people were killed and 21 others injured in the attack on Thursday after Israel struck the international airport in Sana and the city of al Hodeida, the Saba state news agency said, citing Yemen's Health Ministry. The report could not be independently verified."
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, told the Times that Israel had no prior knowledge that the WHO leader would be at the airport during the attack. "We didn't know," he said. "We wish him well."
The IDF said in a statement posted on social media that "fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes" with approval from Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"The targets that were struck by the IDF include military infrastructure used by the Houthi terrorist regime for its military activities in both the Sanaa International Airport and the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations," the military continued. "In addition, the IDF struck military infrastructure in the al Hodeida, Salif, and Ras Kanatib ports on the western coast. These military targets were used by the Houthi terrorist regime to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials."
Since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the U.S.-armed IDF has not only decimated the Gaza Strip and killed over 45,000 Palestinians there but also ramped up strikes on other groups tied to Iran, including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Additionally, Israel has exploited the recent collapse of Syrian former President Bashar al-Assad's government, seizing more territory in that country.
"The targeting of Sanaa International Airport and other civilian infrastructure is a Zionist crime against the entire Yemeni people," a Houthi spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said in a statement. "If the Zionist enemy thinks that its crimes will deter Yemen from supporting Gaza, it is delusional."
The strikes on Yemen came a day after Netanyahu said that "the Houthis, too, will learn what Hamas, Hezbollah, the Assad regime, and others have learned, and even if it takes time, this lesson will be understood across the Middle East."
Israel's ongoing destruction of Gaza has led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as a Hamas leader.
Huthis claim new attacks on Israel after strikes hit Yemen airport
By AFP
December 27, 2024
An image grab from a handout video provided by Yemen's Huthi rebels' Al-Masirah TV shows burning buildings following Israeli strikes on the Ras Kutaib power station in Hodeida - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File MARIO TAMA
Yemeni rebels claimed a strike against the airport in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv on Friday, after Israeli air strikes hit rebel-held Sanaa’s international airport and other targets in Yemen.
The Israeli strikes on Thursday landed as the head of the UN’s World Health Organization said he and his team were preparing to fly out from Yemen’s Huthi rebel-held capital.
Hours later on Friday, the Huthis said they fired a missile at Ben Gurion airport and launched drones at Tel Aviv as well as a ship in the Arabian Sea.
No other details were immediately available.
Yemen’s civil aviation authority said the airport planned to reopen on Friday after the strikes that it said occurred while the UN aircraft “was getting ready for its scheduled flight”.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they knew at the time that WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was there. Israel’s attack came a day after the Iran-backed Huthi rebels claimed the firing of a missile and two drones at Israel.
Yemen’s Huthis have stepped up their attacks against Israel since late November when a ceasefire took effect between Israel and another Iran-backed group, Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Huthis Al-Masirah TV said the Israeli strikes killed six people, after earlier Huthi statements said two people died at the rebel-held capital’s airport, and another at Ras Issa port.
The strikes targeting the airport, military facilities and power stations in rebel areas marked the second time since December 19 that Israel has hit targets in Yemen after rebel missile fire towards Israel.
In his latest warning to the rebels, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would “continue until the job is done”.
“We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil,” he said in a video statement.
– Yemenis depend on aid –
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the “escalation” in hostilities between Israel and the Huthis and called the Sanaa airport strikes “especially alarming”.
He said bombing transportation infrastructure posed a threat to humanitarian operations in Yemen, where 80 percent of the population is dependent on aid.
Tedros was in Yemen to seek the release of UN staff detained for months by the Huthis, and to assess the humanitarian situation.
He said he and other UN staff were about to board their flight when “the airport came under aerial bombardment”.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” Tedros said on X, adding that he and United Nations staff were safe.
A witness told AFP that “more than six” attacks struck the rebel-held capital’s airport, with raids also targeting the adjacent Al-Dailami air base.
A series of strikes also targeted a power station in Hodeida, on the rebel-held coast, a witness and Al-Masirah TV said.
Following rebel attacks against Israel, Israeli strikes had already twice this year hit Hodeida, a major entry point for humanitarian aid to impoverished Yemen, which has been ravaged for years by its own war.
On December 19, after the rebels fired a missile towards Israel and badly damaged a school, Israel for the first time struck targets in Sanaa. It said the strikes were against ports and energy infrastructure that “effectively contributed to” Huthi military actions.
Huthi media said those strikes killed nine people.
In the latest attacks, the Israeli military said its “fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Huthi terrorist regime”.
– ‘Iranian weapons’ –
The targets included “military infrastructure” at the airport and power stations in Sanaa and Hodeida, as well as other facilities at Hodeida, Salif and Ras Kanatib ports, an Israeli statement said.
The targets were used by Huthis “to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials,” the statement said.
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned Israel’s strikes as a “clear violation of international peace and security and an undeniable crime against the heroic and noble people of Yemen”.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose top leaders Israel has killed during the war in the Gaza Strip, condemned the attack as an “aggression” against its “brothers from Yemen”.
Almost a week ago, on December 21, Israel’s military and emergency services said a projectile fired from Yemen wounded 16 people in Israel’s commercial centre, Tel Aviv.
The Huthis have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war began in October last year, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.
They have similarly attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, waters vital to world trade.
Scores of drone and missile attacks on cargo ships have prompted reprisal strikes against Huthi targets by US and sometimes British forces.
In July, a Huthi drone attack on Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting the first Israeli retaliation on Hodeida.
The Huthis control large parts of Yemen after seizing the capital and ousting the internationally recognised government in September 2014.
A Saudi-led coalition in March 2015 began a military campaign to dislodge them that was unsuccessful, despite what the Yemen Data Project, an independent tracker, said were more than 25,000 coalition air raids.
strs-th-it/dcp
By AFP
December 27, 2024
An image grab from a handout video provided by Yemen's Huthi rebels' Al-Masirah TV shows burning buildings following Israeli strikes on the Ras Kutaib power station in Hodeida - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File MARIO TAMA
Yemeni rebels claimed a strike against the airport in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv on Friday, after Israeli air strikes hit rebel-held Sanaa’s international airport and other targets in Yemen.
The Israeli strikes on Thursday landed as the head of the UN’s World Health Organization said he and his team were preparing to fly out from Yemen’s Huthi rebel-held capital.
Hours later on Friday, the Huthis said they fired a missile at Ben Gurion airport and launched drones at Tel Aviv as well as a ship in the Arabian Sea.
No other details were immediately available.
Yemen’s civil aviation authority said the airport planned to reopen on Friday after the strikes that it said occurred while the UN aircraft “was getting ready for its scheduled flight”.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they knew at the time that WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was there. Israel’s attack came a day after the Iran-backed Huthi rebels claimed the firing of a missile and two drones at Israel.
Yemen’s Huthis have stepped up their attacks against Israel since late November when a ceasefire took effect between Israel and another Iran-backed group, Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
The Huthis Al-Masirah TV said the Israeli strikes killed six people, after earlier Huthi statements said two people died at the rebel-held capital’s airport, and another at Ras Issa port.
The strikes targeting the airport, military facilities and power stations in rebel areas marked the second time since December 19 that Israel has hit targets in Yemen after rebel missile fire towards Israel.
In his latest warning to the rebels, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would “continue until the job is done”.
“We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil,” he said in a video statement.
– Yemenis depend on aid –
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the “escalation” in hostilities between Israel and the Huthis and called the Sanaa airport strikes “especially alarming”.
He said bombing transportation infrastructure posed a threat to humanitarian operations in Yemen, where 80 percent of the population is dependent on aid.
Tedros was in Yemen to seek the release of UN staff detained for months by the Huthis, and to assess the humanitarian situation.
He said he and other UN staff were about to board their flight when “the airport came under aerial bombardment”.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” Tedros said on X, adding that he and United Nations staff were safe.
A witness told AFP that “more than six” attacks struck the rebel-held capital’s airport, with raids also targeting the adjacent Al-Dailami air base.
A series of strikes also targeted a power station in Hodeida, on the rebel-held coast, a witness and Al-Masirah TV said.
Following rebel attacks against Israel, Israeli strikes had already twice this year hit Hodeida, a major entry point for humanitarian aid to impoverished Yemen, which has been ravaged for years by its own war.
On December 19, after the rebels fired a missile towards Israel and badly damaged a school, Israel for the first time struck targets in Sanaa. It said the strikes were against ports and energy infrastructure that “effectively contributed to” Huthi military actions.
Huthi media said those strikes killed nine people.
In the latest attacks, the Israeli military said its “fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Huthi terrorist regime”.
– ‘Iranian weapons’ –
The targets included “military infrastructure” at the airport and power stations in Sanaa and Hodeida, as well as other facilities at Hodeida, Salif and Ras Kanatib ports, an Israeli statement said.
The targets were used by Huthis “to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials,” the statement said.
Iran’s foreign ministry condemned Israel’s strikes as a “clear violation of international peace and security and an undeniable crime against the heroic and noble people of Yemen”.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose top leaders Israel has killed during the war in the Gaza Strip, condemned the attack as an “aggression” against its “brothers from Yemen”.
Almost a week ago, on December 21, Israel’s military and emergency services said a projectile fired from Yemen wounded 16 people in Israel’s commercial centre, Tel Aviv.
The Huthis have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Israel since the Gaza war began in October last year, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians.
They have similarly attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, waters vital to world trade.
Scores of drone and missile attacks on cargo ships have prompted reprisal strikes against Huthi targets by US and sometimes British forces.
In July, a Huthi drone attack on Tel Aviv killed an Israeli civilian, prompting the first Israeli retaliation on Hodeida.
The Huthis control large parts of Yemen after seizing the capital and ousting the internationally recognised government in September 2014.
A Saudi-led coalition in March 2015 began a military campaign to dislodge them that was unsuccessful, despite what the Yemen Data Project, an independent tracker, said were more than 25,000 coalition air raids.
strs-th-it/dcp
No comments:
Post a Comment