Zionist forces deploy U.S. THAAD anti-missile system to intercept projectile from Yemen
An advanced U.S. military anti-missile system was deployed in the Zionist entity for the first time since being sent by President Joe Biden in October to intercept a projectile, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
The THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, was used to intercept a projectile from Yemen during the last 24 hours, said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Zionist entity struck multiple targets linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen on Thursday, including Sanaa International Airport, claiming the lives of at least six people, according to Houthi media.
Houthis have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards the Zionist entity in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In October, Biden placed the THAAD system, built by Lockheed Martin LMN.T, in the Zionist entity along with about 100 U.S. soldiers.
The top U.N. aid official in Yemen, Julien Harneis, said on Friday that Sanaa airport was civilian infrastructure used by international aid workers to access the north of Yemen, warning that if disabled, it will “paralyze humanitarian operations.”
“We don’t need to prove we’re civilians. They need to prove that they are hitting a military target. Sanaa Airport has not been a military target since 2016,” Harneis told reporters, adding that the number of Yemeni people in need of humanitarian aid is expected to rise to 19 million next year due to worsening economic conditions in the country.
He also said airstrikes on Hodeidah port were particularly concerning as it was “absolutely vital” because Yemen imports about 80% of its foodstuffs.
“It’s a civilian facility, there is no doubt about that, and the U.N. works to ensure that, and any damage to it will lead to massive suffering for Yemenis,” Harneis said.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who recently travelled to Yemen, said on Friday he was not sure he was going to survive the air strike on Yemen’s main airport carried out by the Zionist forces.
“I was not sure actually I could survive because it was so close, a few meters from where we were,” he told Reuters. “A slight deviation could have resulted in a direct hit.”
“There (was) no shelter at all. Nothing. So, you’re just exposed, just waiting for anything to happen,” he added.
Speaking by telephone from Jordan, where he flew on Friday, helping to evacuate a U.N. colleague seriously injured at the airport for further medical treatment, Tedros said he had received no warning the Zionist entity could be about to strike the airport.
“I’m worried about our world, where it’s heading,” Tedros added, urging world leaders to work together to end global conflicts. “I have never … as far as I can remember, seen the world really being in such a very dangerous state.”
