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Israel carried out another round of heavy air strikes on Yemen on Wednesday, days after Houthi rebels launched a drone attack that struck an Israeli airport.
The Houthi-run health ministry said at least nine people were killed and 118 others wounded in the strikes.
Al-Masirah, a Houthi-controlled satellite news channel, said one of the strikes hit a military headquarters building in central Sanaa, killing and wounding multiple people but gave no precise figures.
Neighbouring houses were also damaged, the network reported.
The strikes hit a station that provides fuel to hospitals in the capital, Essam al-Mutawakel, spokesperson for rebel-run Yemen Petroleum Company, told Al-Masirah.
Residents said they heard violent explosions in multiple areas of the city, with fire and smoke in the skies.
The Houthi media office said Israel also hit a government facility in the strategic city of Hazm, the capital of northern Jawf province.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said rebels fired surface-to-air missiles at Israeli fighter jets.
Houthi-backed President Mahdi al-Mashat vowed on Wednesday to continue attacks, warning Israelis to “stay alarmed since the response is coming without fail.”
Israel didn’t say what it was targeting in the strikes but it has previously launched attacks on Yemen in response to the Houthis firing missiles and drones at Israel.
The Houthis have also regularly attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea that they believe have links to Israel.
The Iran-backed Houthis say they are supporting Hamas and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and on Sunday, sent a drone that breached Israel’s multilayered air defences and slammed into the country’s southern airport.
Strike on Doha
The air strikes on Yemen come a day after Israel launched a surprise aerial assault on the Qatari capital Doha, in a bid to take out the senior Hamas negotiating team it says masterminded the 2023 incursion into Israel that started the war in Gaza.
The strike on the territory of a US ally drew widespread condemnation from countries in the Middle East and beyond and marked a dramatic escalation in the region and risked upending talks aimed at ending the war and freeing hostages still held by Hamas.
Hamas claims its senior leadership, who were weighing a new US ceasefire proposal, survived the strike, which killed two lower-ranking members and three bodyguards.
In the past, Hamas has sometimes only confirmed the assassination of its leaders months later.
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she would seek sanctions and a free trade suspension against Israel over the war in Gaza.
Speaking at her annual state of the union address in Strasbourg, she spoke of Europe’s “painful” inability to respond to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Gaza.
While she didn’t directly refer to the strike on Doha, she did deplore the “endless spiral of events” in an “unforgiving” world.
Additional sources • AP
