The United States and Yemen's Houthi rebels have reached a ceasefire agreement, mediator Oman announced Tuesday, saying the deal would ensure "freedom of navigation" in the Red Sea where the Iran-backed rebels have attacked shipping.
It comes after President Donald Trump announced that the United States would end its attacks against the Houthis after the Iran-backed rebels agreed to stop harassing ships in the Red Sea, though he made no direct mention of recent attacks on ally Israel.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said that "following recent discussions and contacts... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides".
"Neither side will target the other... ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping" in the Red Sea, he added in a statement posted online.
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In surprise comments at the White House, Trump said the Iran-backed rebels had "capitulated" after a near-daily, seven-week US bombing campaign that left 300 dead, according to an AFP tally of Houthi figures.
Read moreUS military hits over 800 targets in Yemen since March, hundreds of Houthi rebels killed
"The Houthis have announced... that they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight," Trump said during a White House press appearance with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
"And we will honour that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated," he added.
"They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore, and that's... the purpose of what we were doing," the US president said, adding that the information came from a "very, very good source".
Trump's comments came just hours after Israeli warplanes put rebel-held Sanaa's international airport out of action in a series of raids that killed three, according to the Houthis.
The Pentagon said last week that US strikes had hit more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since mid-March.
Shortly after Oman's announcement, the head of Yemen's Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, said the Iran-aligned group will continue their attacks to support Gaza, Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported.
He asked Israelis to "remain in shelters because their government will not be able to protect them", indicating the ceasefire with the US did not include a halt of the group's attacks on Israel.
'Completely destroyed'
Tuesday's Israeli strikes "completely destroyed" Yemen's Sanaa airport on Tuesday, an airport official said, and also targeted power stations and a cement factory.
"Three planes out of seven belonging to Yemenia Airlines were destroyed at Sanaa airport, and Sanaa International Airport was completely destroyed," the official said.
Israel's military said "fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport".
"Flight runways, aircraft and infrastructure at the airport were struck," a statement said.
The Israeli strikes, in retaliation for a Houthi missile that gouged a crater at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport on Sunday, also killed four people on Monday.
Read moreIsrael launches air strikes on Yemen in retaliation for Houthi attack on Ben-Gurion airport
On Tuesday, plumes of thick, black smoke were seen billowing from the airport. Residents reported power cuts in Sanaa and Hodeida after the Israelis also struck three electricity stations in and around the capital.
"I was sleeping at home when 15 missiles were fired at us," said Abdallah, a 27-year-old student from Sanaa, who did not want to give his family name.
"I felt like the roof of the house had caved in. It was scary."
One person was killed at the airport and two others at a power station in Sanaa, the Houthis' Saba news agency said, citing the health ministry. Another 35 were wounded, Saba said.
'Fear and terror'
"Our children are terrified," said Umm Abdallah, a 35-year-old Sanaa resident, after Tuesday's attacks.
"They are afraid to go to the bathroom or eat because of the strikes. I mean, they cuddled up next to me because of the fear and terror they felt."
Just before Tuesday's attacks, Israel's military urged Yemeni civilians to "immediately" evacuate the airport and "stay away from the area" in an Arabic post on X.
The Houthis promised to hit back after the attack.
The "aggression will not pass without a response and Yemen will not be discouraged from its stance in support of Gaza", the Houthi political bureau said in a statement.
Regional tensions have soared again this week over Israel's plan to expand military operations in the Gaza Strip and displace much of the besieged territory's population.
Hans Grundberg, the United Nations' special envoy for Yemen, called the exchange of strikes between Yemen and Israel "a grave escalation in an already fragile and volatile regional context".
Israel says it has targeted Yemen five times since July 2024, with Houthi authorities reporting a total of 29 people killed. Israel's army regularly intercepts missiles from Yemen.
The Sanaa airport reopened to international flights in 2022 after a six-year blockade by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis. It offers a regular service to Jordan on the home-grown Yemenia airline.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
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