Sanaa airport 'disabled' after Israeli strikes on Yemen

Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza All flights to and from Sanaa airport in Yemen have been suspended due to damage inflicted by Israeli air strikes. The airport's general director Khaled Al Shaief said in a post on X early on Wednesday that the Israeli strikes the previous day had caused “extensive damage”. The strikes involved 50 bombs, “dozens” of aircraft and mid-air refuelling, the Israeli military said. "Fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport," it added. The operation came just hours before US President Donald Trump and mediator Oman announced a truce between Yemen's Houthi rebels and Washington, which has been carrying out its own intensive bombing campaign in Yemen in recent weeks. The US had been targeting Houthi assets in an attempt to stop the Iran-backed group attacking international shipping in the Red Sea, which the Houthis say they have been doing in solidarity with Palestinians over the war in Gaza. Israel's strikes on Tuesday came in response to a missile fired by the Houthis on Sunday that landed near Israel's main international airport, Ben Gurion, outside Tel Aviv. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed to fight back. Oman, meanwhile, said the ceasefire agreement between the US and the Houthis would ensure “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea. Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi said: “Following recent discussions and contacts … with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides. “Neither side will target the other … ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping.” Mr Trump said the Houthis had “capitulated”, adding: “The Houthis have announced ... that they don't want to fight any more. They just don't want to fight. And we will honour that, and we will stop the bombings. “They say they will not be blowing up ships any more, and that's ... the purpose of what we were doing.” The Houthis did not directly comment on the truce but Mahdi Al Mashat, head of their supreme political council, said in a statement carried by the rebel-controlled Saba news agency early on Wednesday that “continued escalation” would affect a visit by Mr Trump to the Middle East scheduled for next week. “We indirectly informed the Americans that the continued escalation will affect the criminal Trump’s visit to the region, and we have not informed them of anything else,” he said. Mr Trump is due to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. Mr Al Mashat, however, promised a “painful” response to the Israeli strikes. He said Houthi attacks on Israel “will continue” and go “beyond what the Israeli enemy can withstand”. Video of the Israeli strikes on Sanaa airport aired by the Houthis' Al Masirah satellite news channel showed the terminal's windows blown out, with concrete blocks exposed and a fire burning inside. On the runway, aircraft associated with the state carrier Yemenia burned. Other Israeli strikes elsewhere in Yemen hit a cement plant and power plants, the Houthis and Israelis both said. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the strikes should be seen as a warning to the “head of the Iranian octopus”, which he said bears direct responsibility for attacks by the Houthis against Israel. Hans Grundberg, the UN's special envoy for Yemen, called the attacks in Yemen and Israel “a grave escalation in an already fragile and volatile regional context”.

Sanaa airport 'disabled' after Israeli strikes on Yemen

'Extensive damage' reported as truce is announced between Houthis and US