Israel calls to evacuate Yemen airport amid fight with Houthis

The Israel Defense Force (IDF) issued an unusual message on social media Tuesday and urged everyone around Yemen’s Sana’a International Airport to evacuate immediately.

‘We call upon you to evacuate the airport area – Sana’a International Airport – immediately and warn everyone in your vicinity of the need to evacuate this area immediately,’ IDF Col. Avichay Adraee said in a post translated from Arabic on X, along with a map of an area highlighted in red around the airport. 

‘Failure to evacuate and move away from the place exposes you to danger,’ he added. 

Eyewitnesses reported four strikes in the capital city on Tuesday by the IDF, according to a Reuters report which cited the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV.

Adraee did not say whether Israel was planning on striking the international airport in the Houthi-controlled capital, but the warning came one day after Israel hit Houthi targets in Yemen in response to strikes fired by the terrorist group one day prior.

On Sunday, the Iran-backed Houthis launched a missile that landed near Israel’s largest airport in Tel Aviv in an apparent response to Israel’s newly announced expanded military operations in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthi’s vowed to hit Israel with ‘a comprehensive aerial blockade.’ 

Following the Houthi strike on Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport, Jerusalem scrambled some 20 jets and on Monday hit the Yemeni port of Al-Hudaydah, which is the second-largest port in Yemen and accounts for 80% of the nation’s food imports. 

The Houthis accused the U.S. of carrying out joint strikes with Israel on Monday which killed four people and injured 39, according to the Houthi-run health ministry. The U.S. has reportedly denied involvement in the joint strike.

The U.S. has ramped up its aerial and naval strikes against the Houthis, and since Operation Rough Rider commenced in mid-March, some 800 Houthi targets have been hit, according to an April 27 statement by U.S. Central Command.