Hudaydah Still Ablaze Three Days After Bombing

‘Riyadh Allowed Israel to Use Airspace for Yemen Strike’

Date: 22 July 2024 - 22:30

News ID: ۱۲۹۶۵۱

BEIRUT (Dispatches) -- Israel informed Saudi Arabia in advance of its attack on the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah on Saturday, with Riyadh allowing the occupation’s warplanes to pass through its airspace to bomb Yemen, Israeli Army Radio said.
The radio station’s military correspondent, Doron Kadosh said the Israeli warplanes passed through “the Saudi airspace for a large part of their journey to Yemen”.
On Saturday, the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the Zionist  military had coordinated with Saudi Arabia to carry out its attack on Yemen and that the coordination included aerial refueling with RAM aircraft, in addition to flying at low altitudes to avoid radars.
The U.S. administration and Central Command were informed of the operation hours before the attack, according to reports.
At least six people were martyred and 83 others injured in Israeli airstrikes on Hudaydah Port in western Yemen on Saturday, according to the health ministry.
Saturday’s attack marked the first direct Israeli military aggression against Yemen.
Firefighting teams on Monday were struggling to contain a massive blaze at Hudaydah, days after the Israeli strike damaged oil storage facilities and endangered aid ships in the harbor.
Heavy flames and black smoke spiraled into the sky for a third consecutive day following the strike on Saturday, said an AFP correspondent in Hudaydah.
Firefighting teams appeared to be making little progress, with the blaze seemingly expanding in some parts of the port, the correspondent said, adding that there were fears the blaze could reach food storage facilities.
High-resolution satellite images taken by Maxar Technologies showed flames consuming a heavily damaged fuel storage area at the Hudaydah harbor.

An analysis of satellite imagery by the Dutch peace organization PAX showed at least 33 destroyed oil storage tankers, said Wim Zwijnenburg, a project leader with the group.
“We expect (to find) more damage, as not all storage tanks are visible because of heavy smoke” from the fire and burning fuel, Zwijnenburg told AFP.
The fuel depot is run by the Yemen Petroleum Company, which said late Sunday that the six people martyred in the Israel strike were its employees.
With black smoke billowing overhead, a funeral ceremony was held Monday for the victims of the strikes.
Their coffins were carried through the streets of Hudaydah, flanked by crowds and led by a marching band.
Yemen’s armed forces have pledged a “huge” response to the strikes and threatened to attack Tel Aviv again.
U.S. and British forces have targeted military infrastructure in Yemen for months in order to force the country’s regular attacks on Israeli-linked vessels in the Red Sea.
The Israeli strikes on Saturday hit a power plant and fuel storage facilities in Hudaydah.
The long-distance strike on the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country hit the Hudaydah harbor, a key gateway for fuel and international aid into Yemen.
A Hudaydah port employee who was at the harbor the day of the attack said several tanks exploded sequentially.
But “the port, with its dock, containers, and ships, is intact,” said the employee who spoke on condition of anonymity over security concerns.