SANAA: Israel carried out another round of heavy airstrikes in Yemen on Wednesday, days after Houthi militants launched a drone attack that struck an Israeli airport.
At least 35 were killed people and more than 130 were wounded, the Houthi-run health ministry said.
Most of those killed were in Sanaa, the capital, where a military headquarters and a fuel station were among the sites hit, the health ministry said. Search crews were continuing to dig through the rubble.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, said she would seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip. The move adds to Israel’s already unprecedented global isolation as it grapples with the fallout from its strike targeting Hamas leaders in US-allied Qatar on Tuesday.
Al-Masirah, a Houthi-controlled satellite news channel, said one of the strikes on Yemen hit a military headquarters building in central Sanaa. Neighboring houses were also damaged, it reported.
Israel has previously launched waves of airstrikes in response to the Houthis’ firing missiles and drones at Israel. The Iran-backed Houthis say they are supporting Hamas and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and on Sunday, sent a drone that breached Israel’s multilayered air defenses and slammed into the country’s southern airport.
Israel’s strikes in Yemen followed earlier attacks that killed the Houthi prime minister and other top officials in a major escalation of the nearly 2-year-old conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group.
The strikes on Wednesday hit a station that provides fuel to hospitals in the capital, Essam Al-Mutawakel, spokesman for militant-run Yemen Petroleum Company, told the Al-Masirah news channel. Residents said they heard violent explosions in multiple areas of the city, with fire and smoke in the skies.
The Houthi media office said Israel also hit a government facility in the strategic city of Hazm, the capital of northern Jawf province. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said militants fired surface-to-air missiles at the Israeli fighter jets.
Houthi-backed President Mahdi Al-Mashat vowed on Wednesday to continue the attacks, warning Israelis to “stay alarmed since the response is coming without fail.”
Courtesy: arabnews
