Sanaa [Yemen], September 8: Yemen's Houthi group has claimed responsibility for a drone strike against Israel's Ramon Airport near the Red Sea city of Eilat that injured to people.
The attack on Sunday, which targeted the arrivals hall, had halted operations at the airport for around two hours.
"A drone targeted Ramon Airport, which, by Allah's grace, directly hit the airport and caused the airport to shut down and halt air traffic," Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement. He added that the attack was part of a broader drone operation that also targeted other sites in southern Israel.
Saree vowed that the Houthis will "escalate" their attacks against Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
"The Yemeni Armed Forces assure all air navigation companies that the airports inside occupied Palestine are unsafe and will be continuously targeted," he said.
Earlier, the Israeli military said the air force had intercepted three drones launched from Yemen. It said two were "intercepted prior to crossing into Israeli territory" but did not elaborate on the status of the third. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing the Israeli rescue services, reported that two people were lightly wounded in the drone strike.
A 63-year-old man was injured by shrapnel, and a 52-year-old woman was injured after she fell. It said emergency workers evacuated them to a hospital in Eilat, while others who suffered panic attacks received medical care at the scene. Israeli Army Radio reported that a preliminary investigation into the damage at the airport indicated the drone had not been spotted by the air force's detection systems at all.
The airport, located near the resort city of Eilat on the border with Jordan and Egypt, mostly handles domestic flights. The Houthis in Yemen have been launching missiles and drones Israel in what the group says are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians under relentless Israeli fire.
Source: Qatar Tribune
