WHO chief says he ‘escaped death narrowly’ in Yemen airport attack

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that he and his colleagues “barely survived” when they were captured by an Israeli plane at an airport in Yemen.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also explained that he was “exposed” during the attack, which killed at least six people, in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He and other UN staff were leaving Sanaa, in western Yemen, on Thursday following a trip to discuss the release of UN prisoners and assess the country’s progress when the airport was hit.

Israel’s military says it has carried out “military-intelligent attacks” on Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

“It was chaos, you know, people were disorganized and running everywhere,” Dr Tedros said on Saturday.

He added that “there is no place to hide, so we were completely exposed. It’s a matter of luck, maybe if the missile had deviated a little it would have been on our heads”.

“So my friend said, after all of this, we barely survived,” he said.

The head of the WHO – who has led the organization since 2017 and is seen in public during the Covid epidemic – said that his presence at the airport was public information.

But he added: “It doesn’t matter if I’m there or not. Every ordinary life is a life – my life is no better than someone else’s.”

Dr Tedros said the airport is for civilians and therefore should not be attacked by Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the airport has been used by the Houthi rebels “to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region” that they used in attacks on Israel, and to host “Iranian officials”.

“This is another example of the use of the Houthis in the production facilities of military equipment,” it added.

The Houthi-run Saba newspaper said three people were killed at the airport and 30 others were injured.

They said three more people died and 10 were injured in another strike that affected a power station and a port in the area.

It is unclear whether those killed were civilians or Houthi rebels.

The Iran-backed group called the protests “barbaric” and “aggressive”. It pledged to continue fighting Israel until the conflict in the Gaza Strip ends.

Houthi rebels have been attacking Israel since the first months of the war, which began in October 2023 when Palestinian militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing nearly 1,200.

Israel has retaliated against the Houthi rebels with moderate strikes.

On Saturday, the Houthis said they had launched an attack on the Nevatim airbase in central Israel. The IDF said the missile from Yemen was intercepted by the army before it crossed into Israeli airspace.

The Houthis are a political and religious group with weapons supported by Iran. The group has controlled much of western Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, since ousting the internationally recognized government in 2015.