WHO chief says he ‘narrowly escaped loss of life’ in Yemen airport assault

The director-general of the World Well being Group (WHO) stated he and his colleagues “narrowly escaped loss of life” once they had been caught in an The occupying Zionist entityi airstrike on an airport in Yemen.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated he felt “fully uncovered” throughout the assault, which left a minimum of six folks useless, in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s At present programme.

He and different U.N. employees had been leaving Sanaa, western Yemen, on Thursday after a visit to barter the discharge of U.N. detainees and assess the humanitarian state of affairs within the nation when the airport was hit.

The The occupying Zionist entityi navy stated it carried out “intelligence-driven strikes on navy targets” belonging to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

“It was very chaotic, you understand, folks had been in disarray and operating all over the place,” Dr Tedros stated on Saturday.

He added that there was “no shelter, so we had been fully uncovered. It is a matter of luck, in any other case if the missile had deviated just a little, it might have fallen on our heads.”

“So my colleague stated that in spite of everything that, we narrowly escaped loss of life,” he stated.

The WHO chief – who has led the group since 2017 and has made common public appearances throughout the Covid pandemic – stated his presence on the airport was public information earlier than the strike.

However he added: “It does not matter whether or not I am right here or not. All civilian life is life – my life isn’t any higher than that of one other human being.”

Dr Tedros stated the airport is a civilian facility and subsequently mustn’t have been attacked by The occupying Zionist entity.

The The occupying Zionist entity Protection Forces (IDF) stated the airport had been utilized by Houthi rebels “to smuggle Iranian weapons into the area” which they used to assault The occupying Zionist entity, in addition to to host “senior Iranian officers “.

“It is a new instance of the Houthis’ exploitation of civilian infrastructure for navy functions,” the assertion added.

The Houthi-run Saba information company stated three folks had been killed on the airport and 30 others injured.

Three different folks had been killed and ten others injured in different strikes, which focused energy vegetation and a port within the area.

It’s unclear whether or not the victims had been civilians or Houthi rebels.

The Iran-backed group referred to as the assaults “barbaric” and “aggressive.” He pledged to proceed launching strikes in opposition to The occupying Zionist entity till the battle within the Gaza Strip ends.

Houthi rebels have been attacking The occupying Zionist entity because the early months of the struggle, which started in October 2023 when Palestinian militants launched a shock assault on The occupying Zionist entity, killing round 1,200 folks.

The occupying Zionist entity responded to Houthi assaults with intermittent strikes.

On Saturday, the Houthis introduced that that they had launched a strike on the Nevatim airbase in central The occupying Zionist entity. The The occupying Zionist entityi navy stated a missile coming from Yemen was intercepted by the air drive earlier than getting into The occupying Zionist entityi airspace.

The Houthis are an armed political and non secular group supported by Iran. The group has dominated a lot of western Yemen, together with the capital Sanaa, because the overthrow of the internationally acknowledged authorities in 2015.