Curious, only in that this wasn’t the first target selected by the IDF. Israel has launched retaliatory strikes against the Houthis in Yemen after a missile nearly hit Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, the main international hub. Airlines suspended service temporarily while the Israelis work to restore security, creating headaches for their transportation and their economy.
Rather than target the Sanaa International Airport in retaliation, though, the IDF initially targeted Houthi port operations in Hodeidah, destroying a significant part of that infrastructure. Today, however, the IDF intends to return the favor in full:
#عاجل ‼️ انذار عاجل إلى جميع المتواجدين في منطقة مطار صنعاء الدولي وفق ما يعرض في الخارطة المرفقة.
⭕️ندعوكم إلى اخلاء منطقة المطار – مطار صنعاء الدولي – بشكل فوري وتحذير كل من يتواجد بجواركم عن ضرورة اخلاء هذه المنطقة فورًا
⭕️عدم الاخلاء والابتعاد عن المكان يعرضكم للخطر pic.twitter.com/5qXw5x4SBD— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) May 6, 2025
Israel’s military on Tuesday warned people to leave the area around the main airport in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, a day after it struck the port of Hodeidah in response to a Houthi missile that landed near Israel’s main air hub.
Tensions have escalated between Israel and Yemen’s Houthis as the Iran-aligned group continues to launch attacks in response to Israel expanding operations in Gaza.
“Not evacuating puts you in danger,” the military said. It published a map of the area surrounding Sanaa International Airport.
The Israelis hit the airport in December after another Houthi attack on Israel. That made headlines because WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus had been in the terminal, and one of his aides got wounded. Anyone traveling through the airport while the Houthis launch missiles at Israel has to have their head examined, but at least the Israelis are giving a warning to evacuate. That is a first in these exchanges.
So what does that mean? The Israelis didn’t let the warning linger long:
The IDF began conducting strikes on Sanaa International Airport in Yemen on Tuesday afternoon.
Houthi-run Lebanon-based Al Masirah TV reported that the IDF also struck Dhabhan Central Power station in south-east Sanaa, and the Amran cement factory south of the capital.
The attack in December was more a demonstration than a serious attempt to disable air traffic in Yemen, but this may be the real deal. Videos posted in Sanaa show multiple columns of smoke rising from the airport, and the reporting suggests that the sorties have only started. If the Houthis keep trying to target Israel’s transportation centers, the message appears to be, IDF will escalate in kind … and will be much more effective at it.
That may be having an effect on the Houthis’ grip on power. Even before the retaliation started, United Arab Emirates media reported that the Yemenis are growing very tired of the Houthis’ attempts to fight Israel and the US, and particularly opposed the attack on Ben Gurion Airport:
As the Israel Defense Forces called on people to evacuate Sana’a International Airport, a report at Al-Ain media says that people in Yemen are lamenting the Houthis’ reckless attacks on Israel.
The report, published on May 6, is titled “Yemenis groan over the Houthis’ reckless adventures and Israeli bombing,” and says that Yemen is suffering heavy losses as a result of the Houthi “reckless adventures, which have prompted Israeli strikes that have destroyed the country’s most vital facilities.” …
The point of the piece at Al-Ain is to show there is an alternative to the Houthis. The report says that the recent Israeli strikes on May 5 “targeted the Hodeidah port docks, putting it out of service, and destroyed the Bajil cement factory and fuel tanks, did not directly impact the Houthi militias. Instead, the cost was paid by more than 5,000 workers and employees at the two facilities, who are now threatened with unemployment after losing their jobs.”
Now that the IDF is putting the airport out of commission and taking out the energy infrastructure in Sanaa, that unrest will grow exponentially. That may intensify more thanks to the fact that the Houthis still have yet to achieve anything in its Red Sea piracy and attacks on Israel, except to provoke far more powerful enemies into striking Yemen. If the Houthis have a grand strategy other than just being the lackeys of the mullahs in Tehran, they’re certainly keeping it to themselves. And if the IDF succeeds in putting the airport and the ports out of service, the Houthis will get very lonely indeed.
