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Israeli Strikes Destroy Last Plane at Yemen's Sanaa Airport

FILED - 29 January 2024, Yemen, Sanaa: Armed members of the Iran-backed Houthi militias take part in a demonstration against US and Israel. Photo: Osamah Yahya/dpa
FILED - 29 January 2024, Yemen, Sanaa: Armed members of the Iran-backed Houthi militias take part in a demonstration against US and Israel. Photo: Osamah Yahya/dpa
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Israeli Strikes Destroy Last Plane at Yemen's Sanaa Airport

FILED - 29 January 2024, Yemen, Sanaa: Armed members of the Iran-backed Houthi militias take part in a demonstration against US and Israel. Photo: Osamah Yahya/dpa
FILED - 29 January 2024, Yemen, Sanaa: Armed members of the Iran-backed Houthi militias take part in a demonstration against US and Israel. Photo: Osamah Yahya/dpa

Israeli air strikes blew up the last remaining plane at Yemen’s Houthi-held Sanaa international airport, Israel and a Yemeni official said on Wednesday, weeks after an earlier attack inflicted major damage.

An air raid involving multiple strikes hit the Yemenia Airways plane and the runway at Sanaa airport, the Houthis’ Al-Masirah TV channel posted on X, decrying "Israeli aggression".

Thick black smoke was seen billowing from a stricken plane on the tarmac, in a video posted on X by Sanaa airport director Khaled al-Shaief who said it was Yemenia's last operational aircraft.

The airport had only resumed limited commercial services on May 17, according to the Houthis, after it was closed by a heavy Israeli attack that destroyed six planes 11 days earlier.

The Houthis, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians, have been firing on Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, prompting reprisal strikes from Israel as well as the United States and Britain.  

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said fighter jets targeted Houthi "terror targets" at the airport, a day after the group fired two projectiles at Israel.  

"Air Force jets have just struck terror targets of the Houthi terrorist organization at the airport in Sanaa and destroyed the last aircraft remaining," he said in a statement.  

An Israeli military statement said aircraft there "were used by the Houthi terrorist organization for the transfer of terrorists who advanced terrorist attacks against the state of Israel".  

- 'Fragile situation' -  

The Houthis began their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in November 2023, weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war, prompting British and US military strikes beginning in January 2024.  

Earlier this month, the United States agreed a ceasefire with the Houthis, ending weeks of intense American strikes on areas held by the militants.  

However, the Houthis have continued to fire frequent projectiles at Israel, including strikes targeting Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv. Earlier this month, Israel threatened to target the Houthi leadership.  

United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg warned in a statement that clashes between the Houthis and Israel are "exacerbating an already very fragile situation for Yemen and the region".  

The Houthis had earlier paused their attacks during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza that collapsed in March. 

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Arab World

Explosion at Mosque in Syria’s Homs Kills Three, Says Local Official

A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Explosion at Mosque in Syria’s Homs Kills Three, Says Local Official

A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)
A Syrian flag waves in Damascus. (Getty Images/AFP)

Three people were ​killed and five injured when an explosion struck a mosque ‌the ⁠Syrian ​province ‌of Homs on Friday, a local official said.

Syrian state media said ⁠security forces had ‌imposed a ‍cordon around ‍the area ‍and were investigating.

Local officials told Reuters it ​may have been caused by ⁠a suicide bomber or explosives placed there.

Arab World

Fuel Shortage Forces Gaza Hospital to Suspend Most Services

The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
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Fuel Shortage Forces Gaza Hospital to Suspend Most Services

The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)
The sun sets behind a makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians set up in an area of al-Bureij camp, in the central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP)

A major Gaza hospital has suspended several services because of a critical fuel shortage in the devastated Palestinian territory, which continues to face a severe humanitarian crisis, it said.

Devastated by more than two years of war, the Al-Awda Hospital in the central Gaza district of Nuseirat cares for around 60 in-patients and receives nearly 1,000 people seeking medical treatment each day.

"Most services have been temporarily stopped due to a shortage of the fuel needed for the generators," said Ahmed Mehanna, a senior official involved in managing the hospital.

"Only essential departments remain operational: the emergency unit, maternity ward and pediatrics."

To keep these services running, the hospital has been forced to rent a small generator, he added.

Under normal conditions, Al-Awda Hospital consumes between 1,000 and 1,200 liters of diesel per day. At present, however, it has only 800 liters available.

"We stress that this shutdown is temporary and linked to the availability of fuel," Mehanna said, warning that a prolonged fuel shortage "would pose a direct threat to the hospital's ability to deliver basic services".

He urged local and international organizations to intervene swiftly to ensure a steady supply of fuel.

Despite a fragile truce observed since October 10, the Gaza Strip remains engulfed in a severe humanitarian crisis.

While the ceasefire agreement stipulated the entry of 600 aid trucks per day into Gaza, only 100 to 300 carrying humanitarian assistance can currently enter, according to the United Nations and non-governmental organizations.

The remaining convoys largely transport commercial goods that remain inaccessible to most of Gaza's 2.2 million people.

- Health hard hit -

On a daily basis, the vast majority of Gaza's residents rely on aid from UN agencies and international NGOs for survival.

Gaza's health sector has been among the hardest hit by the war.

During the fighting, the Israeli miliary repeatedly struck hospitals and medical centers across Gaza, accusing Hamas of operating command centers there, an allegation the group denied.

International medical charity Doctors Without Borders now manages roughly one-third of Gaza's 2,300 hospital beds, while all five stabilization centers for children suffering from severe malnutrition are supported by international NGOs.

The war in Gaza was sparked on October 7, 2023, following an unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza, at least 70,942 people - also mostly civilians - have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Arab World

Israel Army Says Striking Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon

FILED - 27 November 2025, Lebanon, Mahmoudieh: Smoke billows after Israeli air raids on Hezbollah positions in the southern Lebanese village of Mahmoudieh. Photo: Stringer/dpa
FILED - 27 November 2025, Lebanon, Mahmoudieh: Smoke billows after Israeli air raids on Hezbollah positions in the southern Lebanese village of Mahmoudieh. Photo: Stringer/dpa
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Israel Army Says Striking Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon

FILED - 27 November 2025, Lebanon, Mahmoudieh: Smoke billows after Israeli air raids on Hezbollah positions in the southern Lebanese village of Mahmoudieh. Photo: Stringer/dpa
FILED - 27 November 2025, Lebanon, Mahmoudieh: Smoke billows after Israeli air raids on Hezbollah positions in the southern Lebanese village of Mahmoudieh. Photo: Stringer/dpa

The Israeli military announced a series of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Friday, including weapons depots and a training complex. 

"A number of weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure sites were struck, which were used by Hezbollah to advance terror attacks against the state of Israel," a military statement said. 

Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) reported a "series of airstrikes" by Israeli aircraft on mountainous areas in Nabatiyeh and Jezzine districts in the south, and the Hermel district in the east of the country. 

Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, Israel has continued to strike in Lebanon and has maintained troops in five areas it deems strategic. 

More than 340 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports. 

The strikes on Friday come a day after similar Israeli attacks near the Syrian border and in southern Lebanon left three people dead. 

The Israeli military had reported on Thursday it had killed a member of arch-foe Iran's elite Quds Force in a strike in Lebanon. 

On Friday, the military said it had struck several military structures of Hezbollah, warning it would "remove any threat posed to the state of Israel". 

Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting in the south of the country near the frontier. 

Lebanon's army plans to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River -- about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Israel -- by year's end. 

Israel has questioned the Lebanese military's effectiveness and has accused Hezbollah of rearming, while the group itself has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.