Mass demonstration in Yemen's capital in wake of Israeli strikes

Huge crowds demonstrated in Yemen's capital on Friday, a day after Israeli jets pounded Houthi rebel targets across Yemen, killing at least six people, including four at Sanaa's international airport where World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was waiting for a flight.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in rebel-held Sanaa, chanting and brandishing Kalashnikovs, placards and pistols as they listened to fiery speeches denouncing Israel's actions in Yemen and in the besieged Gaza Strip, where it has killed more than 45,000 people, the majority women and children.

Large-scale demonstrations are a regular occurrence in Sanaa under the Houthis but Friday's protest followed a surge in hostilities with Israel, which struck multiple sites on Thursday.

In response, the Houthis fired a missile at Tel Aviv airport and said they launched drones at the city and a ship in the Arabian Sea.

Israel's military said "one missile that was launched from Yemen was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory." There was no comment on the other attacks claimed by the Houthis.

A Houthi political official told BBC that the group will continue attacking Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians despite the escalating Israeli air strikes in Yemen. Mohammed al-Bukhaiti said that the Houthis would "escalate our military targeting of Israel" until it stopped what he — as well as several international human rights organizations — described as "genocide" in Gaza.

The Houthi rebels, who have controlled much of impoverished Yemen for a decade, have been firing missiles at commercial ships they believe to be connected to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K., which have all bombed Yemen in the last year, as they pass through the vital global shipping route through the Red Sea, causing serious disruptions to the global market. 

They have sunk two vessels, seized a third and killed four crew members, while the joint U.S.-U.K. strikes in defense of "the free flow of commerce" have killed dozens of people, according to the Houthi health ministry.

The Houthis have maintained throughout that these attacks, along with those fired directly against Israel, have been in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Yemenis set fire to U.S. and Israeli flags during a demonstration denouncing Israeli stikes and in solidarity with Palestine in the Houthi-controled capital Sanaa on Dec. 27, 2024. (Credit: Mohammed Huwais/AFP)

"The equation has changed and has become: [targeting] airport for airport, port for port, and infrastructure for infrastructure," Houthi supporter Mohammed al-Gobisi said at Friday's demonstration, during which Yemeni and Palestinians flags alike were visible across the sea of protestors. "We will not get tired or bored of supporting our brothers in Gaza."

Omar Abdullah, another man in the crowd, said: "You [Israelis] will not break the Yemeni people, you will not humiliate them, and you will not subjugate them even if they starve."

Flights resumed from Sanaa airport on Friday despite a badly damaged control tower, whose observation deck was gutted by a direct hit. Broken glass also littered the ground where large windows had been shattered in the airport building, an AFP photographer saw.

The WHO chief posted on X that he had safely reached Jordan with his team, including a colleague who was injured in the attack and needs further treatment.

The Houthis' Deputy Transport Minister Yahya al-Sayani said Yemen's only international airport was busy with passengers when the fighter jets struck.

"The attack happened when there were a lot of passengers and a plane departing at 7 p.m.," he told a press conference. "There was another plane planned to land and it did land directly after the attack."

Sanaa airport, which reopened to international flights in 2022 after a six-year gap, offers a regular service to Jordan's capital, Amman, on the Yemenia airline.