Israel has struck Yemen’s main international airport just days after its own Ben-Gurion Airport fell victim to a missile launched by Houthi rebels in the country.
Footage from the capital Sanaa showed a large plume of smoke rising from the area around the airport complex hours after Jerusalem issued an evacuation order.
Earlier today, Colonel Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, announced the unusual move on X, saying: “We call upon you to evacuate the airport area immediately and warn everyone in your vicinity of the need to evacuate this area immediately.
"Failure to evacuate and move away from the area exposes you to danger."
His post also included an aerial photo of the airstrip with a red exclusion zone running its full length and encompassing part of the surrounding areas.
According to local reports, a significant segment of the terminal building has been destroyed. An IDF spokesperson claimed that the airport had been brought to a complete standstill and claimed that the Houthis had been using the site to transfer weapons and personnel.
The strikes come in response to the attack on Ben-Gurion Airport on Sunday, in which a ballistic missile launched from Yemen injured six people.
The findings of initial inquiry by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) suggested that the missile was not intercepted due to a technical fault in the Iron Dome air defence system.
Since the attack, Israel has responded sternly, deploying a total of 20 fight jets to strike 50 sites linked to the Iranian-backed Houthi militants, such as the port city of Hodeidah which it claimed had been used “for the transfer of Iranian weapons, equipment for military needs, and other terror purposes”.
Other targets included the Bajil concrete factory, which the IDF dubbed “an important economic resource” used “for building tunnels and military infrastructure for terrorist organisations”.
Sanaa Airport has previously been targeted by the IAF, including in December last year, again in response to Houthi strikes. However, it primarily functions as an international terminal and receives civilian commercial flights.
The runway at the site is also shared with the Al-Dailami Air Base, which is operated by the Yemeni government – the same government that is allied to a Saudi-led coalition fighting against the Houthis, Al-Qaeda and Islamic State groups as part of the ongoing Yemeni Civil War.
