Israeli fighter jets bombed the main international airport in Yemen on Tuesday in retaliation for a missile attack by Yemen’s Houthi militia that struck near Israel’s main airport last weekend.
The Israeli bombing in the capital, Sana, was the latest salvo in a battle with the Iran-backed Houthis, who rule much of northwestern Yemen including Sana. They have fired dozens of rockets and drones at Israel as well as at ships in the Red Sea in what they call a solidarity campaign with Palestinians to press for an end to the war in Gaza.
“The strike was carried out in response to the attack launched by the Houthi terrorist regime against Ben Gurion Airport,” an Israeli military statement said. “Flight runways, aircraft and infrastructure at the airport were struck,” it added, claiming the airport had been totally disabled.
The Houthis have also been the target of a stepped-up U.S. bombing campaign on Yemen since mid-March. President Trump sharply escalated attacks on the country in an attempt to degrade the militia’s capability to attack shipping — an effort that was started by the Biden administration.
Mr. Trump has vowed that the Houthis will be “completely annihilated.”
Yemen, located at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is the poorest Arab country with one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Sana’s international airport provides one of the few remaining connections to the outside world for the more than 20 million Yemenis who live in Houthi-controlled territory, serving as a means to access lifesaving medical treatment as well as to reach work and loved ones abroad.
Before its attack on Tuesday, the Israeli military had issued a call on social media threatening the airport and ordering everyone in the vicinity to evacuate. Israeli warplanes also struck power stations and a cement factory.
On Sunday, a Houthi ballistic missile evaded Israel’s air defenses to strike close to Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv. Multiple airlines canceled flights in response to the strike — which wounded at least six people — and Israeli leaders vowed reprisals.
The following evening, Israeli fighter jets bombed the port of Hudaydah in northwestern Yemen and a concrete factory east of the city. At least four people were killed and more than 30 wounded, according to the health ministry tied to the Houthi-led government there.
Israel previously struck the airport last December.
Since striking Ben Gurion, the Houthis have declared an “air blockade” on Israel, saying that they will continue to target Israeli airports.
Yemeni analysts who study the Houthis say that they will not be deterred by the bombardments and that conflict with the United States and Israel only strengthens the group’s political narrative.
The militia’s slogan, often shouted at rallies, includes the phrase “Death to America, death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews.”
After the attack on Tuesday, the Houthi-controlled government released a statement saying that it was fighting a “holy war to aid the wronged Palestinian people in Gaza.”
The Houthis are confronting “an enemy that is used to committing war crimes and genocide and targeting civilians,” it added, vowing to keep up the attacks.
“Airstrikes have never deterred the Houthis in the past,” said Nadwa al-Dawsari, a Yemeni analyst at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C. “While these Israeli strikes may be more devastating in nature, the Houthis are already adapting, using dhows and other channels to smuggle weapons, oil and supplies.”
Sana’s international airport was closed for nearly six years during a long war against the Houthis by a Saudi-led military coalition that aimed to rout the militia and restore the country’s internationally recognized government. It reopened to commercial flights in 2022.
While the airport was closed, tens of thousands of critically ill Yemenis who needed medical treatment abroad were trapped in the country, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council, a humanitarian aid organization that operates in Yemen. Many others were stuck abroad, unable to return to their families.
To civilians in Sana, the Israeli attacks are perceived as “a form of collective punishment,” said Mohammed al-Basha, an independent Yemeni analyst based in Washington, D.C. They argue that it is “the general population — not the Houthis — who will bear the brunt of the airport’s destruction and the disruption of civilian flights,” he said.
Sana’s airport is predominantly used for civilian travel, while foreign military experts and Houthi commanders enter the country via maritime routes or other channels, he said. Despite the strikes on Yemeni ports and the airport, the militia is still able to access weapons and military technology, relying on smuggling operations along the country’s long coastline.
Some people in the capital reported losing power after Tuesday’s strikes.
“This will have a major impact,” said Mohammed Mansour Mohammed, 28, who lives in southern Sana. He said that all his household appliances including the refrigerator and the washing machine lost power.
Shuaib Almosawa contributed reporting from Sana, Yemen and Ismaeel Naar contributed reporting from Dubai.
