SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The Israeli airstrikes in Yemen that killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 130 others also caused damaged to Yemen’s national museum and other historical sites in its capital city, the Houthi Ministry of Culture said Thursday.
The status of the artifacts inside the museum is still unclear, but thousands of historical artifacts are at risk of damage, according to the ministry. Associated Press photos and video footage from the site of Wednesday’s strike showed damage to the building’s facade.
The ministry called on the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO to condemn the attack and to intervene to help protect this historical building and its artifacts.
Most of those killed were in Sanaa, the capital, where a military headquarters and a fuel station were hit on Wednesday, the Houthi-run health ministry said.
Israel has previously launched waves of airstrikes in response to the Houthis’ firing of missiles and drones at Israel. The Iran-backed Houthis say they are supporting Hamas and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and on Sunday they sent a drone that breached Israel’s multilayered air defenses and slammed into a southern airport.
Israeli strikes in Lebanon
Separately, the Israeli military said Thursday it carried out strikes in Lebanon targeting what it described as a Hezbollah “site used for the production and storage of strategic weapons” in the Bekaa valley and infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in the area of Zrariyeh in the south.
Earlier, Lebanon’s health ministry said one person was killed in an Israeli drone strike targeting a motorcyclist near the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon. Lebanese officials also said Israeli forces entered the border village of Aita al-Shaab and carried out a controlled demolition of a building that had previously been a school for special needs students.
Since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November, Israel has continued to carry out near-daily strikes in Lebanon that it says are aimed at stopping the militant group from rebuilding its capabilities.
Lebanese officials say the strikes are in violation of the ceasefire.
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