Ethiopian born head of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was lucky to be alive after Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen airport where he was getting ready to board on Friday.
Explosions rocked the terminal build during the attack and according to Mr. Ghebreyesus, his ears are still ringing from the trauma. He said one of the four blasts that hit the airport while he sat in the departure lounge was close.
“I was not sure actually I could survive because it was so close, a few metres from where we were,” he told Reuters.
“A slight deviation could have resulted in a direct hit.”
Tedros said he and his colleagues were stuck at the airport for the next hour or so as what he thought were drones flew overhead, feeding concern they could open fire again. Among the debris, he and colleagues saw missile fragments, he said.
“There (was) no shelter at all. Nothing. So you’re just exposed, just waiting for anything to happen,” he said. The Israeli strikes on Yemen came after Houthis repeatedly fired drones and missiles toward Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.”
He called on world leaders to work harder to resolve global conflicts: “I’m worried about our world, where it’s heading.
“I have never … as far as I can remember, seen the world really being in such a very dangerous state,” said Tedros, a former Ethiopian foreign minister.
The Houthi-controlled Saba News Agency said three people died in the strikes on the airport and three were killed in Hodeidah, with 40 others wounded in the attacks.
Tedros traveled to Yemen over Christmas to try to negotiate the release of UN staff and others held there. He acknowledged that he and colleagues knew the trip was risky in light of high tension between Israel and the Houthis.

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