Netanyahu warns airstrikes will continue in Yemen after WHO chief caught in airport attack – Middle East crisis live | Middle East and North Africa

The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea for more than a year to try to enforce a naval blockade on Israel they say they are supporting in Israel’s year-long war with Palestinians in Gaza. Working in solidarity.

Attacks on shipping by the Houthis, who have also launched missiles at Israel, have prompted the US and Britain to retaliate. Here’s a quote from our lecturer on groups:

The Houthis are a Yemeni militia group named after their founder Hussein Badreddine al-Houthi and represent the Zaidi branch of Shia Islam.

They emerged in the 1980s in protest against Saudi Arabia’s religious influence in Yemen.

The group, which has an estimated 20,000 fighters and whose official name is Ansar Allah, runs much of the country’s west and is in charge of its Red Sea coast…

The Houthis were gaining support at the turn of the century from Shia Yemenis, fed up with the corruption and brutality of their longtime authoritarian president and Saudi ally, Ali Abdullah Saleh, especially after 9/11 and during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. . Popular protests and several assassination attempts forced Saleh to resign in 2012.

In 2014 the Houthis allied with their former enemy Saleh to capture the capital Sanaa and a year later ousted new Western-backed President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi. After Hadi was forced to flee, the Yemeni government in exile asked its allies in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which were also supported by the West, to launch a military campaign to oust the Houthis.

This led to a terrible civil war United Nations estimates By the end of 2021 there were 377,000 deaths and 4 million people displaced.

The Houthis actually won the war. The April 2022 ceasefire led to a significant decline in violence and fighting remained largely in abeyance despite the ceasefire’s official end in October.

Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Middle East crisis after Israel attacked several targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen on Thursday. International Airport in the capital, professionHouthi media said at least six people were killed.

Head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom GhebreyesusSays he was at Yemen’s international airport when the attack took place. One crew member on the plane was injured and at least two people were reported dead at the airport, he said. Tedros said he was in Yemen to negotiate the release of UN staff detained by the Houthis and to assess the humanitarian situation.

The Israeli military said it also targeted military infrastructure at the ports. Hodeidah, salif And Ras Qanatib On the west coast of Yemen. It also attacked the country Hezias And Ras Qanatib power stations.

Later on Thursday, the Houthis – who have declared themselves part of the Iranian-led “axis of resistance” against Israel – reportedly said they were prepared to respond immediately to the attack and counter “escalation with escalation”. Were ready for.

israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu Warned that Israeli airstrikes would continue “until the job is completed”. “We are committed to cutting off this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil,” he said in a video statement.

In other developments:

• United Nations chief, Antonio Guterreshas condemned the “escalation” in hostilities between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Israel, and described IDF attacks on targets including the airport in Sanaa as “particularly worrying”.

• Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said the UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Monday over the Houthi attacks on Israel.

• Israeli forces intercepted a missile fired from Yemen in the latest attack by Houthi rebels, hours after a bombardment by Israeli forces in Yemen.

• Israel’s military has forced dozens of sick and injured patients to leave the country. Kamal Adwan Hospital In Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.