Israeli airstrikes rock airport in Yemen’s capital

JAFFA, Israel - Israel struck and “fully” disabled the main airport in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital of Sanaa on Tuesday, the Israelis military said in a statement.

The Israel Defense Forces said the attack, which came after an Israeli strike on the Red Sea city of Hodeida on Monday, was in retaliation for a missile strike Sunday by the Iran-back militant group that hit near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport.

For the past year and a half, the Houthis have targeted Israel as well as American forces and commercial vessels in the Red Sea to protest the ongoing war in Gaza, which has killed many thousands of civilians.

It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties in Tuesday’s strike. About an hour before the attack, the IDF issued a warning on X, telling residents around the airport to leave. “Failure to evacuate the area endangers your lives,” the IDF said in a post, which included a map of the area.

The Israeli military said in a statement after the attack that its “fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sana’a, fully disabling the airport” and hitting “runways, aircraft, and infrastructure.”

“Similar to the Hudaydah Port that was struck yesterday, the airport served as a central hub for the Houthi terrorist regime to transfer weapons and operatives,” the IDF said.

The IDF said it also hit several central power plants in Sanaa and a concrete plant north of the capital.

“This strike further degrades the Houthi regime’s economic and military buildup capabilities,” the IDF said.

In mid-March, the Trump administration launched its own campaign, called “Operation Rough Rider,” which has targeted Houthi rebel leadership and infrastructure.

The strikes have taken a heavy civilian toll. The Britain-based watchdog organization Airwars estimated that U.S. strikes killed 27 to 56 Yemeni civilians in March.