The Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces announced on Sunday, May 4, the launch of a comprehensive aerial blockade on Israel, following the Israeli government’s approval earlier that day of a plan to expand the military operation in the besieged Gaza strip.
Hours before the announcement, Ansar Allah launched a precision missile attack targeting Israel’s main international airport, Ben Gurion, near the city of Tel Aviv. Eight people were reported injured due to the strike, while airlines including Wizz Air and Lufthansa announced the suspension of their flights to Tel Aviv for a number of days.
Although the Yemeni movement has repeatedly attacked the airport in retaliation for Israel’s ongoing genocidal aggression on Gaza, Sunday’s attack was the most accurate. The missile landed directly in its vicinity, resulting in the suspension of flights for about 30 minutes.
The Yemeni Armed Forces’ spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced the aerial blockade in a televised statement on Sunday.
“In response to Israel’s escalatory decision to expand its aggressive operations in Gaza, the Yemeni Armed Forces announce the launch of a comprehensive aerial blockade on the Israeli enemy by frequently attacking airports, mainly Lod Airport, which is called by Israel as Ben Gurion Airport,” Saree said.
The Yemeni official urged all international airports to take what was mentioned in his statement into consideration “starting from the hour the announcement was published,” and to “cancel all their flights to the Israeli airports.”
Saree further warned Israel to not continue assaulting Arab countries including Lebanon and Syria, asserting that the Arab nation “will not fear confrontation, and will refuse submission and subservience.”
Israel threatens to attack Yemen and Iran in response to the strike on the airport
In response to the attack on Ben Gurion Airport, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to retaliate against Ansar Allah in Yemen and to act against Iran, which it considers the movement’s “patron”.
Read more: Israel, US, UK intensify their aggression across Yemen
“We will always remember that they acted under the orders and with the support of their patron — Iran,” a readout from Netanyahu’s office said on Sunday. “We will do what needs to be done to deliver a proper warning to Iran that we cannot tolerate such acts,” the readout added.
On Monday, May 5, Netanyahu followed through on his threats as Israeli fighter jets targeted Yemen’s Hodeidah province with a series of airstrikes. The same day saw aerial attacks launched by US warplanes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Ansar Allah hopes blockade and attacks will trigger reverse migration
For his part, member of Ansar Allah’s political bureau, Hazam al-Assad, said during an interview with the Palestinian Shehab news agency that “reverse migration” by Israelis in the near future is an expected repercussion of Ansar Allah’s retaliatory attacks and intended aerial blockade.
“Upcoming events, God willing, will set the wheel of migration back from the occupied Palestinian territories unless the US-backed Zionist entity halts its aggression and lifts its siege on our people in Gaza,” al-Assad stated.
It is worth noting that Israeli settlers reportedly broke the record of reverse migration in 2024, after 82,700 of them fled occupied Palestine. This unprecedented number of Israelis leaving the territories is believed to be driven – among other things – by intense retaliatory attacks launched by regional resistance groups in retaliation for Israel’s 19-month genocide in Gaza.
