In a statement released late on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that the military strike, which occurred during the Hajj season and aimed to disrupt the transfer of Yemeni pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, was a grave crime.
He called on international organizations, particularly the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), to address the situation with urgency and seriousness.
He said that the Israeli regime’s ongoing attacks on Yemen’s economic infrastructure and civilian facilities, including ports, airports, and food storage facilities, exemplify war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Baqaei reiterated that the Israeli regime’s barbaric enmity towards Muslim nations in West Asia indicates its inherent unfamiliarity with the regional people and proves the regime leaders’ attempt to spread war and insecurity throughout the region and the world.
He further reminded all countries of their moral and legal responsibility to counter the Israeli regime’s crimes and violations in Palestine and the other regional countries.
Baqaei warned that the Israeli regime’s impunity in the wake of the United Nations Security Council’s inaction and the massive support from the United States has had irreparable consequences for the system of norms based on the U.N. Charter and has unprecedentedly jeopardized international peace and security.
According to Al Masirah TV, Israeli airstrikes targeted the Sana’a airport’s runway four times on Wednesday, completely destroying Yemenia Airways’ last operational civilian plane. This plane was intended to transport Hajj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
The airport, Yemen’s biggest, had just resumed operations last week after being damaged in previous strikes and was mainly servicing U.N. aircraft and Yemenia’s lone remaining civilian plane, as three others had been wiped out in an earlier attack.
IRNA