ADEN: The Israeli military said it fired on Yemen’s main airport on Tuesday and witnesses said there were four strikes in the capital Sanaa, the latest hostilities as tensions rise between Israel and the Houthis.
Israel had earlier warned people to leave the area around Sanaa International Airport, one day after Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on Hodeidah port in Yemen in response to a Houthi missile landing near Israel’s main air hub on Sunday.
“Not evacuating puts you in danger,” the Israeli military said in its warning, and it published a map of the area surrounding the airport.
Three airport sources told Reuters that Tuesday’s strikes targeted three civilian airplanes, the departures hall, the airport runway and a military air base under Houthi control.
Tensions have been rising between Israel and the Houthis as the group presses on with attacks in response to Israel expanding its military operations in the Gaza Strip.
The Houthis said on Sunday they would impose a “comprehensive” aerial blockade on Israel by repeatedly targeting its airports.
The Israelis strikes around Hodeidah on Monday killed four people and wounded 39, the Houthi-run health ministry said.
There was no immediate word of casualties in Tuesday’s hostilities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate after a missile launched by Houthis landed near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, which led to European and US airlines canceling flights.
The Houthis have been firing at Israel and shipping in the Red Sea since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians.
Israel says it struck Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa
https://arab.news/7n5m9
Israel says it struck Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa
- Three airport sources said Tuesday’s strikes targeted three civilian airplanes, the departures hall, the airport runway and a military air base under Houthi control
Somali president visits city claimed by breakaway region
MOGADISHU: Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Friday visited a provincial capital claimed by the breakaway region of Somaliland -- the first visit there by a sitting president in over 40 years.
The visit to Las Anod, the administrative capital of the Sool region, comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions in the Horn of Africa after Israel officially recognised Somaliland, drawing strong opposition from Mogadishu.
Mohamud was attending the inauguration of the president of the newly created Northeast State, which became Somalia's sixth federal state in August.
It was the first visit by a Somali president since 1984.
Somalia is a federation of semi-autonomous states, some of which have fraught relations with the central government in Mogadishu.
The Northeast State comprises the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn, all territories Somaliland claims as integral to its borders.
Somaliland had controlled Las Anod since 2007 but was forced to withdraw in 2023 after violent clashes with Somali forces and pro-Mogadishu militias left scores dead.
Mohamud's visit "is a symbol of strengthening the unity and efforts of the federal government to enforce the territorial unity of the Somali country and its people", the Somali president's office said.
