Yemen’s Houthis claim responsibility for drone attack on Israeli airport

Yemeni group vows to ‘escalate’ attacks, warning that Israeli airports ‘are unsafe’ and will continue to be targeted.

Yemen’s Houthi group has claimed responsibility for a drone strike against Israel’s Ramon Airport near the Red Sea city of Eilat that injured two people.

The attack on Sunday, which targeted the arrivals hall, had halted operations at the airport for around two hours.

“A drone targeted Ramon Airport, which, by Allah’s grace, directly hit the airport and caused the airport to shut down and halt air traffic,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement.

He added that the attack was part of a broader drone operation that also targeted other sites in southern Israel.

Saree vowed that the Houthis will “escalate” their attacks against Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces assure all air navigation companies that the airports inside occupied Palestine are unsafe and will be continuously targeted,” he said.

Earlier, the Israeli military said the air force had intercepted three drones launched from Yemen. It said two were “intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory”, but did not elaborate on the status of the third.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing the Israeli rescue services, reported that two people were lightly wounded in the drone strike.

The airport, located near the resort city of Eilat on the border with Jordan and Egypt, mostly handles domestic flights.

The Houthis in Yemen have been launching missiles and drones at Israel in what they say are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians under relentless Israeli fire. They have also been attacking vessels in the Red Sea since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023.

Israel has been bombing Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, including the vital Hodeidah port.

Its latest barrage killed senior Yemeni officials late last month, including Ahmed al-Rahawi, the prime minister of the Houthi-affiliated government and other cabinet ministers. Large numbers of civilians have also been killed in Israeli strikes.

In May, a Houthi missile hit near Israel’s main airport, Ben Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv, injuring four people lightly and causing many airlines to cancel their flights to Israel for months. Israel later struck and destroyed the main airport in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.