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UN official denies Israeli claim Yemen airport was military target
The top UN official for humanitarian aid in Yemen, who narrowly dodged an aerial bombing raid by Israel on Sanaa's airport, denied Friday that the facility had any military purpose.
Israel said that it was targeting "military infrastructure" in Thursday's raids and that targets around the country were used by Huthis to "smuggle Iranian weapons" and bring in senior Iranian officials.
UN humanitarian coordinator Julien Harneis said the airport "is a civilian location that is used by the United Nations."
"It's used by the International Committee of the Red Cross, it is used for civilian flights –- that is its purpose," he told reporters by video link from Yemen.
"Parties to the conflict have an obligation to ensure that they are not striking civilian targets," he added. "The obligation is on them, not on us. We don't need to prove we're civilians."
Harneis described how he, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and 18 other UN staff, were caught up in the attack, which he said also took place as a packed airliner was touching down nearby.
One UN staffer was seriously wounded in the strikes, which destroyed the air traffic control facility, Harneis said. The rest of the team was bundled into armored vehicles for safety.
"There was one air strike approximately 300 meters (985 feet) to the south of us and another air strike approximately 300 meters to the north of us," he said.
"What was most frightening about that air strike wasn't the effect on us -– it's that the air strikes took place... as a civilian airliner from Yemenia Air, carrying hundreds of Yemenis, was about to land," he said.
"In fact, that airliner from Yemenia Air was landing, taxiing in, when the air traffic control was destroyed."
Although the plane "was able to land safely... it could have been far, far worse."
The Israeli attack, he said came with "zero indication of any potential air strikes."
Harneis said the airport is "absolutely vital" to continued humanitarian aid for Yemen. "If that airport is disabled, it will paralyze humanitarian operations."
The United Nations has labeled Yemen "the largest humanitarian crisis in the world," with 24.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid and protection.
Public institutions that provide healthcare, water, sanitation and education have collapsed in the wake of years of war.
The Huthis control large parts of Yemen after seizing Sanaa and ousting the internationally recognized government in September 2014.
Israel's strikes come as the group has stepped up its own long-range attacks on Israel in the wake of a ceasefire between Israel and another Iran-backed group, Lebanon's Hezbollah.
M.Arroyo--HdM
