Arab Coalition Detects Hostile Houthi Activity at Sanaa Airport

General view of Sanaa International airport, Sanaa, Yemen November 23, 2017. (Reuters)
General view of Sanaa International airport, Sanaa, Yemen November 23, 2017. (Reuters)
TT

Arab Coalition Detects Hostile Houthi Activity at Sanaa Airport

General view of Sanaa International airport, Sanaa, Yemen November 23, 2017. (Reuters)
General view of Sanaa International airport, Sanaa, Yemen November 23, 2017. (Reuters)

The Saudi-led Arab coalition said on Saturday it had detected new hostile activities by the Iran-backed Houthi militias at Sanaa International Airport.

The coalition revealed that a surveillance drone was launched from the facility towards other Yemeni regions.

Last week, coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki had stated that the Houthis had transformed Sanaa airport into a military testing base and a platform to launch cross border attacks.

The Houthis are a danger to United Nations planes, agencies and relief staff, he warned.

Iran has turned the airport into a main base for the launch of hostile attacks, he added.

Moreover, Iran has used the facility to deliver various weapons to the terrorist militias, he continued.

The coalition also released footage that prove the Houthis' use of a UN plane as a mock target in a military test of an air defense system.

Other footage confirmed previous coalition statements that the Houthis had transformed the airport into a military camp and factory for the manufacture and storage of armed drones and ballistic missiles that are used in attacks in Yemen and beyond.



Pope Calls Situation in Gaza 'Shameful'

Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
TT

Pope Calls Situation in Gaza 'Shameful'

Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Palestinians carry the dead body of a child, at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

Pope Francis on Thursday stepped up his recent criticisms of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave "very serious and shameful.”

In a yearly address to diplomats delivered on his behalf by an aide, Francis appeared to reference deaths caused by winter cold in Gaza, where there is almost no electricity.

"We cannot in any way accept the bombing of civilians," the text said, according to Reuters.
"We cannot accept that children are freezing to death because hospitals have been destroyed or a country's energy network has been hit."

The pope, 88, was present for the address but asked an aide to read it for him as he is recovering from a cold.

The comments were part of an address to Vatican-accredited envoys from some 184 countries that is sometimes called the pope's 'state of the world' speech. The Israeli ambassador to the Holy See was among those present for the event.

Francis, leader of the 1.4-billion-member Roman Catholic Church, is usually careful about taking sides in conflicts.
But he has recently been more outspoken about Israel's military campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas, and has suggested
the global community should study whether the offensive constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
An Israeli government minister publicly denounced the pontiff in December for that suggestion.

The pope's text said he condemns anti-Semitism, and called the growth of anti-Semitic groups "a source of deep concern."
Francis also called for an end to the war between Ukraine and Russia, which has killed tens of thousands.