Flights suspended at Sanaa airport after Israeli airstrikes, Yemen’s Houthis say

By Mohammed Sameai and Betul Yilmaz

SANAA, Yemen / ISTANBUL (AA) - Yemen’s Houthi group said Wednesday that all flights to and from Sanaa airport have been suspended following Israeli airstrikes.

A statement by the Houthi-run Transport Ministry said UN and humanitarian flights have also been suspended until further notice.

The ministry said the Israeli assault targeted aircraft, the airport’s runway, control tower, and arrival and departure halls.

The flight suspension came one day after Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes on the airport as well as power stations and industrial facilities in Sanaa and Amran province in the north and the Red Sea port of Al-Hudaydah.

The Houthi group said at least seven people were killed and 94 others injured in the attacks.

Yemen has faced an intensified US military campaign since mid-March, including around 1,300 air and naval strikes, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties, according to the Houthis.

Oman on Tuesday announced a ceasefire between the US and Houthis in Yemen, after President Donald Trump said the group will not carry out attacks on commercial ships.

The Houthis have targeted ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden since November 2023 in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where over 52,600 people have been killed in a brutal Israeli assault for more than 19 months, most of them women and children.

The group halted attacks when a Gaza ceasefire was declared in January between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, but resumed them after Israel's renewed airstrikes on Gaza in March.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.