عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Houthis Report US Strikes after Israel Vows Revenge for Airport Attack

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

Houthis Report US Strikes after Israel Vows Revenge for Airport Attack

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

Yemen's Houthi group on Monday blamed Washington for around 10 strikes in and around the capital Sanaa after a missile fired by the Iran-backed group struck the area of Israel's main airport.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency said the strikes included two targeting Arbaeen street in the capital as well as one on the airport road, blaming them on "American aggression".

The group’s health ministry said 14 people were wounded in the Sawan neighborhood, according to Saba.

The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.

The missile fired from Yemen by the Houthis landed near the main terminal of Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, wounding six people.

The military confirmed that the attack, which gouged a large crater in the perimeter of the airport, had struck despite "several attempts... to intercept the missile".

In a video published on Telegram, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had in the past "acted against" the Iran-backed group and "will act in the future".

"It will not happen in one bang, but there will be many bangs," he added, without elaborating.

Later on X, Netanyahu said Israel would also respond to Iran at "a time and place of our choosing".

Several international airlines suspended flights to Israel following the attack, and hours later the Houthis promised more such strikes and warned airlines to cancel their flights to Israeli airports.

A police video showed officers standing on the edge of a deep hole in the ground with a control tower visible behind them. No damage was reported to airport infrastructure.

An AFP photographer said the missile hit near the parking lots of Terminal 3, the airport's largest.

- 'Hit them' -

"You can see the area just behind us: a crater was formed here, several dozen meters wide and several dozen meters deep," central Israel's police chief, Yair Hezroni, said in the video.

"This is the first time" that a missile has directly struck inside the airport perimeter, an Israeli military spokesperson told AFP.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, saying their forces "carried out a military operation targeting Ben Gurion airport" with a "hypersonic ballistic missile".

In a later statement, the group's military spokesperson Yayha Saree said they would target Israeli airports, "particularly the one in Lod, called Ben Gurion", near Tel Aviv. He called on airlines to cancel flights to Israeli airports.

Israel's Magen David Adom emergency service said it had treated at least six people with light to moderate injuries.

An AFP journalist inside the airport during the attack said he heard a "loud bang" at around 9:35 am (0635 GMT), adding that the "reverberation was very strong".

"Security staff immediately asked hundreds of passengers to take shelter, some in bunkers," the AFP journalist said.

- 'Panic' -

One passenger said the attack, which came shortly after air raid sirens sounded across parts of Israel, caused "panic".

"It is crazy to say but since October 7 we are used to this," said the 50-year-old, who did not want to be named, referring to the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

Flights resumed after being halted briefly, with the aviation authority saying Ben Gurion was now "open and operational".

Soon after a government official said Israel's security cabinet was to meet on Sunday, army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir confirmed media reports of a planned expansion of the Gaza war.

"This week we are issuing tens of thousands of orders to our reservists to intensify and expand our operation in Gaza," Zamir said in a statement.

The army would destroy all Hamas infrastructure, "both on the surface and underground", he added.

The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war.

US strikes on the group began under former president Joe Biden, but have intensified under his successor Donald Trump.

Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid a deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire that had largely stopped the war.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Brother Details to Asharq Al-Awsat Luring, Disappearance of Lebanese Retired Officer

Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
TT
TT

Brother Details to Asharq Al-Awsat Luring, Disappearance of Lebanese Retired Officer

Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Abdul Salam Shukr speaks to Asharq Al-Awsat from Nabi Sheet. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Shock still grips the family of retired Lebanese General Security captain Ahmed Shukr, who was abducted days ago, as Lebanese security and judicial assessments increasingly point to Israeli intelligence as being behind his disappearance, over suspected links to the 1986 vanishing of Israeli airman Ron Arad in southern Lebanon.

His brother, Abdul Salam Shukr, told Asharq Al-Awsat the story began when a Lebanese expatriate living in Kinshasa, identified as A.M., contacted Ahmed and asked to rent his apartment in the Choueifat area, south of Beirut.

The two agreed months ago, and the man paid $500 in rent.

The expatriate made repeated visits to Lebanon and met Shukr at his home during one of them. He later contacted the retired officer to say that a wealthy African investor named Salim Kassab, later found to be a fake name, was interested in purchasing a plot of land in the eastern city of Zahle and needed his assistance.

Abdul Salam said the expatriate inspected the land, then called two weeks after leaving Lebanon to say the investor had agreed to buy it and would visit the country. He asked Ahmed to meet him at the site at 4:30 p.m. on the day of the abduction.

He said the expatriate insisted on the timing because it suited the buyer, despite Ahmed’s objections that darkness would have fallen by then, and the land’s features would not be visible. The expatriate later apologized for not attending, claiming he had broken his foot, and said the investor would visit the site alone with Ahmed.

At the time of the meeting, Ahmed disappeared.

“We know nothing about him except what we have heard through security and judicial leaks,” Abdul Salam said. He added that the abductors had rented a house in Zahle and erased all traces from it after kidnapping Ahmed.

Surveillance cameras tracked the vehicle as it headed toward the town of Souireh in the western Bekaa, where the trail then vanished. Souireh was previously used as a smuggling route from southwestern Damascus into Lebanon.

Loyalty to the state

“My brother served 40 years in the military establishment. His loyalty was only to the state and its institutions. He never belonged to any party,” Abdul Salam said. “We are a family that does not engage in politics.”

Ahmed was lured last week in a carefully planned operation that began in his hometown of Nabi Sheet in the northern Bekaa, before he went missing at a point very close to the city of Zahle.

Family members and residents have been gathering at the home of Nabi Sheet’s mukhtar, Abbas Shukr, to voice their protest and condemnation of the abduction.

The family said Ahmed Shukr retired nine years ago after serving for four decades in the General Security, during which he held several posts, including the Masnaa border crossing with Syria and the Qaa crossing in northeastern Lebanon.

“My brother joined the military in 1979, which means he was an ‘officer of the state’ when Arad disappeared in 1986,” Abdul Salam told Asharq Awsat. “An officer of the state does not belong to parties.”

He rejected attempts to link the family by kinship to Fuad Shukr, a Hezbollah leader killed by Israel in July 2024 in Beirut’s southern suburbs, saying no one in the town even knew him.

“He left the town in the early 1980s and never returned. He was distant even from his relatives,” he said, adding that since retiring, his brother “never left the Bekaa. He stayed at home and played cards with friends at night.”

The family home remains in a state of disbelief, a scene that has persisted since his disappearance last week. The case only began to move officially after Vice President of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Ali al Khatib contacted Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Interior Minister Ahmed al-Hajjar, according to Abdul Salam.

He said Aoun pledged to instruct security and judicial authorities to expand the investigation and uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident. Officials from the Amal Movement were also in constant contact with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is head of the movement, to follow up on the case.

Mystery remains

“We demand that the judiciary and security agencies confirm or deny the leak about an alleged link to Ron Arad’s disappearance,” Abdul Salam said.

“That leak does not concern us. What matters is what the security agencies say, including General Security, where Ahmed served, and the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces, which is leading the investigation.”

He said the key to the mystery lies with A.M., a native of the southern town of Qana who lives in Kinshasa and has been evading the family’s calls.

“The Lebanese state must ask Interpol to arrest him and bring him to Lebanon for questioning,” he urged, adding that the man no longer answers his phone and that all available information about him, including video clips, is now in the hands of security agencies.

Abdul Salam said the family believes the expatriate coordinated the plot with Israel’s Mossad, guiding them to this point and enabling an operation carried out with precision and professionalism.

He said Lebanese security agencies told the family the abductors left no fingerprints, neither at the Zahle property nor at the Choueifat apartment, and that no evidence has been found. The kidnappers’ vehicle also remains unidentified.

Arab World

UK, Canada, Germany and Others Condemn Israel’s West Bank Settlement Plan

A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)
TT
TT

UK, Canada, Germany and Others Condemn Israel’s West Bank Settlement Plan

A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian woman walks past the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, southeast of Jerusalem, on November 21, 2025. (AFP)

Countries including Britain, Canada and Germany and others on Wednesday condemned the Israeli security cabinet's approval of 19 new settlements in the occupied West ‌Bank, saying ‌they violated ‌international ⁠law and risked ‌fueling instability.

"We call on Israel to reverse this decision, as well as the expansion of ⁠settlements," said a joint ‌statement released ‍by Britain, ‍which also included ‍Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway and Spain.

"We recall that such unilateral actions, as ⁠part of a wider intensification of the settlement policies in the West Bank, not only violate international law but also risk fueling instability," the statement ‌added.

Arab World

Syria State Media Says 3 Dead in Clashes in Latakia Province

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
TT
TT

Syria State Media Says 3 Dead in Clashes in Latakia Province

A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)
A large Syrian flag flutters above Tishreen Park in Damascus, June 4, 2025. (AFP)

Syrian state media said three people were killed Wednesday in clashes with security forces in coastal Latakia province, the heartland of the country's Alawite minority community.

"Three members of remnants of the former regime were killed after clashes with internal security forces" outside the city of Jableh, state television said.

State news agency SANA had earlier reported "clashes with a group of wanted outlaws" in the area, and said an unspecified number of security personnel were wounded.

Since last December's ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, himself an Alawite, Syria's new authorities have frequently reported security operations against remnants of his government.

Syria's coastal areas saw the killing of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.

A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority community were killed at the time.

Last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the Alawite coast in protest of fresh attacks targeting their community.