Yemeni forces confront US Navy, fire missiles at Israeli airport
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Confrontations at sea lasted for hours, thwarting a wide-scale American aerial assault on Yemen, while two missiles were fired at the Ben Gurion Airport.
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Yemenis wave the national flag during the million-man march in support of Gaza and in protest the US aggression on the country, March 17, 2025. (Social media)
The Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) launched two ballistic missiles at the Israeli Ben Gurion Airport, as part of their continued operations to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The YAF's spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced that the military's Rocket Force fired a Zulfiqar medium-range ballistic missile and a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport on Monday.
Saree said that the attack achieved the intended operational goals.
At around 8:00 pm (GMT +2) on Monday, sirens sounded across Israeli-occupied territories in central occupied Palestine and the southern West Bank, due to the missile attack. More than 30 major city settlements and occupied cities were warned of the imminent attack, forcing settlers into bomb shelters.
The Yemeni attacks come in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, with the intended goal of disrupting air traffic in the Ben Gurion Airport until war on Gaza is stopped and the siege on Palestinians is lifted.
Read more: Yemen won't stand by amid Israeli aggression on Lebanon: al-Houthi
US aggression concentrates on Saada
The YAF had also announced its intention to prohibit the passage of any Israeli-affiliated vessel through the Red Sea, with the resumption of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza. On the other hand, the United States announced that it would launch an aggression on Yemen, claiming to be concerned with the security of international maritime routes.
As part of the aerial assaults, US warplanes launched strikes on Yemen's northern Saada governorate. Strikes were recorded on both Monday evening and early on Tuesday. Six of these strikes targeted areas around the city of Saada and the districts of Saqin and Sahar.
Moreover, American strikes targeted a cancer center in the city of Saada, early on Tuesday. A final tally released by the Yemen News Agency (SABA) counted 12 strikes on Saada, nine of which targeted the city and its vicinity while three others targeted the districts of Saqin and Sahar.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Office in Yemen’s Saada governorate condemned the US aggression targeting the Cancer Treatment Center building in Saada, which resulted in casualties and caused significant damage to the facility. The office explained that the "US aggression targeted the Cancer Treatment Center for the second time in less than ten days" and stressed that "the US attacks on civilian infrastructure constitute a criminal act, a full-fledged war crime, and a violation of international law."
YAF responds to US attacks on Yemeni cities
In the context of the US-launched aggression, the YAF's spokesperson said that branches of the Yemeni military conducted coordinated strikes on several US Navy vessels, as well as the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 8, the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier.
Saree revealed that anti-ship ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and one-way attack drones were used in confrontations that lasted for hours. As a result of the Yemeni forces' proactive approach, a wider-scale US aggression on Yemeni territories was thwarted.
The spokesperson further highlighted that this is the second round of clashes between the YAF and the US Navy in the Red Sea in the past 24 hours.
Read more: Trump officials accidentally add journalist to war on Yemen chat
