TEHRAN – Yemeni forces launch operations to block commercial air travel in Israeli skies in solidarity with Gaza.

Military spokesman Yahya Saree announced a “qualitative operation” targeting the Zionist regime’s Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv with a hypersonic ballistic missile. He confirmed that the missile successfully struck its intended target.

Saree stated that the operation is part of efforts to enforce a no-fly zone over Israeli airspace, in response to what he said was the Zionist regime’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“The enemy’s interception systems failed to stop it, causing millions of occupying Zionists to rush into shelters and halting airport operations for nearly an hour,” Saree noted.

Israeli media reported that the U.S. THAAD missile defense system failed to intercept the projectile, for the second time this week.

Viral footage circulated on social media showing panic among Israeli settlers, with scenes of people fleeing Tel Aviv’s beaches during the Yemeni missile alert.

The government in Sanaa emphasized that Yemen will continue to attack the Zionist regime “in support of our oppressed Palestinian people and their fighters, and in rejection of the genocide being committed by the Zionist enemy against our brothers in the Gaza Strip, and as part of enforcing the aerial blockade on the criminal Israeli entity.” 

In a separate strike, Yemeni forces targeted a “vital Israeli enemy site” in Tel Aviv using a Yaffa drone.

Yemeni officials reiterated warnings to international airlines still operating flights to Israeli airports, declaring that the air traffic ban over occupied Palestine remains in force until the aggression on Gaza ceases.

“The Armed Forces again warn airlines that have not yet complied with the no-fly directive: they must immediately halt all flights to the occupied land of Palestine, as many others have already done,” Saree warned.

He further stated, “The decision to ban air navigation to the airports of occupied Palestine, as well as the prohibition on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, will remain in place. These and other support operations will continue until the aggression on Gaza is stopped and the siege is lifted.”

Yemen opened a military support front in solidarity with the starving people of Gaza in November 2023. Western powers have waged thousands of airstrikes on multiple Yemeni cities. 

The air raids have failed to deter Yemeni forces from targeting vital Israeli sites, end the maritime blockade on Israeli ships, and now Yemen has vowed to implement a blockade over Israeli airspace.