Israel carried out an unusual attack in Yemen today, unusual not for the fact that the target was the airport of Yemen’s capital city Sanaa, which has been attacked before, but because this was the Israel Air Force’s second operation in less than 24 hours at a distance of 2,000 kilometers.
According to the IDF, the strike, in which the terminal, the runways, and several aircraft were bombed, put the airport out of action completely. It followed the hit on Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday by a missile launched by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who control Sanaa. Several power plants in the area of Sanaa were also attacked, and the al-Imran concrete plant north of Sanaa, which serves the construction of the Houthis’ tunnels and military infrastructure, which are one of the reasons for the difficultly in striking a decisive blow against the Houthis and their array of missiles.
The strike on Sanaa’s main airport represents an attempt to create a formula whereby whatever damage the Houthis manage to do in Israel, the Israel Air Force will take down more significant infrastructure in Yemen. But as far as consignments of arms from Iran to its proxy in Yemen are concerned, the strike on the airport will not present much of a challenge. In that respect, yesterday’s strike on the port of Hodeidah may be more significant.
The combined strikes on the Houthis’ main airport and seaport could lead them to escalate their operations. In July last year, the leader of the Houthis’ Ansar Allah military wing, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, threatened Saudi Arabia that if it attacked seaports, airports, or banks, it would sustain a similar response. In an attempt to deter Saudi Arabia from joining the campaign against them that started to take shape under the administration of Joe Biden in the US, the Houthis published coordinates of strategic Saudi assets. The Houthis are far more fearful of ground forces entering Yemen to topple their regime than of air strikes by Israel or the US, however powerful.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 6, 2025.
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