Israel’s deadly air strikes this week targeting Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have damaged residential areas in the country’s capital of Sana’a, leaving many houses in ruins and residents without help from authorities and unable to afford repairs on their own.
Wednesday’s strikes killed 46 people – including 11 women and five children – and wounded 165, according to a toll released by the health ministry in Sana’a. Most of the casualties were in Sana’a. Houthi officials said 11 local journalists were also killed in the strikes.
The strikes followed a drone launched by the Houthis that breached Israel’s multilayered air defences and slammed into a southern Israeli airport, blowing out glass windows and injuring one person.
In Yemen, a military headquarters and a Sana’a fuel station were also hit, the Houthis said previously, as well as a government facility in the city of Hazm, the capital of northern Jawf province. The National Museum of Yemen was also damaged, according to the Houthis’ culture ministry, with footage from the site showings damage to the building’s façade.
In Sana’a, where Yemen’s years-long civil war has impoverished many, residents said they cannot afford any major repairs and that the local authorities are not offering compensation or help with reconstruction.
Dozens of homes in Sana’a’s central Tahrir area were damaged. One of the residents from there, Um Talal, said she has no faith the authorities will help repair the house where she lives with her daughter and two sons.
The air strikes knocked out their living room walls and damaged the kitchen, leaving dirt, debris and rubble.
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