WHO: Crew Member Suffered Serious Injury in Yemen Airport Strike

A man walks past a damaged building of Sanaa Airport, one day after Israeli airstrikes hit the airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
A man walks past a damaged building of Sanaa Airport, one day after Israeli airstrikes hit the airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
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WHO: Crew Member Suffered Serious Injury in Yemen Airport Strike

A man walks past a damaged building of Sanaa Airport, one day after Israeli airstrikes hit the airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
A man walks past a damaged building of Sanaa Airport, one day after Israeli airstrikes hit the airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

The UN air crew member hurt in an airstrike on Yemen's main international airport on Thursday suffered serious injuries but is now recovering in hospital, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization said on Friday.

Israel said it struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi militias in Yemen, including Sanaa International Airport, and Houthi media said at least six people were killed.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was in the airport waiting to depart when the aerial bombardment took place and said that a member of his plane's crew was injured.

The injured man, who worked for the UN Humanitarian Air Service, had to be operated on, the WHO spokesperson said. He appeared to be recovering satisfactorily, the person added.

Tedros, who was in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff and to assess the humanitarian situation, would continue working in the country until his flight is able to depart, the WHO spokesperson said.

That could be on Friday, but no decision has yet been made, the WHO spokesperson said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Channel 14 that Israel was only at the beginning of its campaign against the Houthis. "We are just getting started with them," he said.



Lebanon Returns 70 Officers and Soldiers to Syria, Security Official Says

A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
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Lebanon Returns 70 Officers and Soldiers to Syria, Security Official Says

A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)
A member of the security forces of the newly formed Syrian government inspects vehicles at a security checkpoint on the Syrian border with Lebanon, Friday, Dec. 27, 2024. (AP)

Lebanon expelled around 70 Syrian officers and soldiers on Saturday, returning them to Syria after they crossed into the country illegally via informal routes, a Lebanese security official and a war monitor said.

Many senior Syrian officials and people close to the former ruling family of Bashar al-Assad fled the country to neighboring Lebanon after Assad's regime was toppled on Dec 8.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a London-based organization with sources in Syria, and the Lebanese security official said Syrian military personnel of various ranks had been sent back via Lebanon's northern Arida crossing.

SOHR and the security official said the returnees were detained by Syria's new ruling authorities after crossing the border.

The new administration has been undertaking a major security crackdown in recent days on what they say are "remnants" of the Assad regime.

Several of the cities and towns concerned, including in Homs and Tartous provinces, are near the porous border with Lebanon.

The Lebanese security official said the Syrian officers and soldiers were found in a truck in the northern coastal city of Jbeil after an inspection by local officials.

Lebanese and Syrian government officials did not immediately respond to written requests for comment on the incident.

Reuters reported on Friday that Rifaat al-Assad, an uncle of Assad charged in Switzerland with war crimes over the bloody suppression of a revolt in 1982, had flown out of Beirut recently, as had "many members" of the Assad family.

Earlier this month, Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said top Assad adviser Bouthaina Shaaban had flown out of Beirut after entering Lebanon legally.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, Mawlawi said other Syrian officials had entered Lebanon illegally and were being pursued.