Israel carried out large-scale air strikes on the main airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on December 26 as it steps up attacks on the Iranian-backed Huthi rebels in what Tehran called a “violation” of peace and security.
Huthi rebels said three people were killed and 14 were injured or missing following the Israeli attacks on the airport and other sites in Yemen, including port facilities.
"Fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Huthi terrorist regime on the western coast and inland Yemen," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
SEE ALSO: Fall Of Assad Unravels Iran's Decades-Old 'Axis Of Resistance'The attacks followed recent rocket launches by the Huthi fighters against the Tel Aviv area, although little damage was reported.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli strikes on Yemen, calling them "aggressions" that it claimed were "a clear violation of international peace and security."
It said they represented "an undeniable crime against the heroic and noble people of Yemen," who had "not spared any effort to support the oppressed people of Palestine."
The Israeli military has said air strikes in Yemen are targeting Huthi sites that have been used to receive Iranian weapons, which are then often transported to other Tehran-linked groups in the Mideast -- mainly Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hamas has been designated a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union, while Hezbollah has also been deemed a terrorist group by Washington. The EU blacklists its military arm but not its political wing. The U.S. State Department designated the Huthis as a terrorist group at the start of this year.
Hamas and Hezbollah have been severely weakened following massive Israeli military strikes on their respective sites in Gaza and Lebanon, and most of their leaders have been killed in Israel's military response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes would continue against the Huthi rebels, who have also targeted shipping in the Red Sea, claiming they are in solidarity of Hamas fighters in Gaza.
"We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil. We will continue until the job is done," Netanyahu said in a video statement.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus -- head of the World Health Organization who was at the Sanaa airport during the Israeli attack -- said he was safe but that "one of our plane's crew members was injured.”