Head of WHO at Yemen airport during Israeli air strikes

 

Dr Tedros said he was unhurt after the bombardment

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other UN staff were at Yemen's international airport in Sanaa on Thursday during an Israeli air strike.

In a social media post, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he and staff were about to board a plane when the airport came under aerial bombardment.

"One of our plane's crew members was injured," he wrote, adding that two people at the airport were killed.

The strikes - which also hit power stations and ports - have killed at least three people with more than a dozen injured, according to Houthi-run media. The Iran-backed rebel group described the attacks as "barbaric" after Israel claimed responsibility for the strikes.

It is unclear whether the fatalities were civilians or Houthi rebels.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its "fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and inland Yemen".

It targeted "military infrastructure" at Sanaa International Airport as well as the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations, and sites in the Al-Hudaydah, Salif and Ras Kanatib ports on the west coast, the IDF said.

In comments shortly after the strikes, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would "continue to cut off the terror arm of the Iranian axis of evil until we complete the job", adding "we are only just starting with [the Houthis]".

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyj88rye1jo