UN's Guterres: Israeli strikes in Yemen are 'especially alarming'
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the strike undermines the organization's efforts in Yemen
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned escalations between Israel and Yemen on Thursday, saying Israel's airstrikes on Yemen's Sana'a International Airport, the Red Sea ports, and power stations were alarming.
"Israeli airstrikes today on Sana'a International Airport, the Red Sea ports, and power stations in Yemen are especially alarming," the UN chief spokesperson said in a press briefing while expressing concerns about the risk of further regional escalation.
Israel reported it struck multiple targets linked to the Houthis in Yemen on Thursday, including Sana'a International Airport.
The strikes targeted the airport's main runway, control tower, and aircraft, some of which subsequently caught fire, The Jerusalem Post reported.
In a press statement, the secretary-general reported that UN personnel were wounded during the strikes.
"A United Nations Humanitarian Air Service crew member was also injured when the airport was hit," Guterres's statement read. "A high-level UN delegation, headed by World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was at the airport when the strikes occurred. The delegation had just concluded discussions on the humanitarian situation in Yemen and the release of UN and other detained personnel."
The statement also said that the secretary-general "warns that airstrikes on Red Sea ports and Sana’a airport pose grave risks to humanitarian operations at a time when millions of people are in need of life-saving assistance. Further escalation in the region also continues to undermine the mediation efforts led by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen Hans Grundberg to reach a negotiated political solution to the conflict in Yemen."
Houthi media said at least six people were killed.
Dr. Ghebreyesus, the head of the UN delegation, noted that as the group was about to board, the airport was bombarded.
"One of our plane’s crew members was injured. At least two people were reported killed at the airport," Ghebreyesus wrote on X/Twitter. "We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave."
The IDF said that it also targeted Houthi military infrastructure, the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations, and Al-Hudaydah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib ports on the western coast.
The targets were reportedly used to smuggle weapons from Iran into Yemen.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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