MUSCAT/WASHINGTON/SANAA: The United States and Yemen’s Houthis have reached a ceasefire agreement, mediator Oman announced Tuesday, saying the deal would ensure “freedom of navigation” in the Red Sea where the rebels have attacked shipping. “Following recent discussions and contacts... with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides,” said Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi in a statement posted online, adding that “neither side will target the other... ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping” in the Red Sea.

US President Donald Trump had earlier said the Houthi rebels agreed to halt attacks on shipping, in a surprise announcement at the White House. The Houthis began targeting vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in late 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, which has been devastated by the Zionist military.

“The Houthis have announced... that they don’t want to fight anymore. They just don’t want to fight. And we will honor that, and we will stop the bombings, and they have capitulated,” Trump said. “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”.

Attacks by the Houthis have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal – a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of the world’s shipping traffic. The United States began carrying out strikes against the Houthis in early 2024 under president Joe Biden, and Trump’s administration launched renewed attacks on the rebels starting on March 15. The Pentagon said last week that US strikes had hit more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since mid-March in an operation that has been dubbed “Rough Rider”.

Earlier, Zionist warplanes bombed the airport in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa, the latest retaliation for a missile strike by the Houthis that targeted the Zionist entity’s main airport. Plumes of thick, black smoke were seen billowing from the airport area after a series of strikes shook the impoverished Arab country’s capital. Residents reported power outages in Sanaa and the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeida, after the Zionists struck three electricity stations in and around the capital, according to the rebels.

The Zionist military said it took the airport “fully” out of action after hitting runways and aircraft. “Three planes out of seven belonging to Yemenia Airlines were destroyed at Sanaa airport, and Sanaa International Airport was completely destroyed,” an airport official told AFP. Three airport sources told Reuters that the strikes targeted three civilian airplanes, the departures hall, the airport runway and a military air base under Houthi control.

Three people were killed and 38 wounded in the Zionist strikes on Tuesday, the Houthis’ media said. Casualties were reported from strikes on Sanaa airport, a cement factory, a power station and the Asr area of the capital, Al-Masirah TV and Saba news agency said, citing the Houthi health ministry. A previous Zionist attack on the airport in December killed six people, according to Houthi media.

The Zionist entity has now launched two volleys of strikes after a Houthi missile penetrated the perimeter of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport for the first time on Sunday, leaving a large crater and wounding six people. Houthi authorities said that on Monday four people were killed and 35 wounded as the Zionist entity’s initial reprisal strikes hit a cement factory and targets in Hodeida.

On Tuesday, the Zionist military said in a statement that its “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.” The Zionist entity targeted the airport because it “served as a central hub for the Houthi terrorist regime to transfer weapons and operatives”, the statement said.

The Houthis promised to hit back. 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. “The operations of our armed forces will continue and the support by Yemen to Palestine will only end with the end of the aggression and siege against Gaza.” The latest exchanges come as regional tensions soar anew over the Zionist entity’s plan to expand military operations in the Gaza Strip and displace much of the besieged territory’s population.

The Houthis blamed both the Zionist entity and its ally the United States for the latest strikes. While the Zionist entity claimed responsibility, US officials have denied any involvement. “US forces did not participate in the (Zionist) strikes on Yemen today,” a US defense official told AFP on Tuesday. As well as the airport and power stations, the latest raids also hit a cement factory in Amran, rebel media said.

Hans Grundberg, the United Nations’ special envoy for Yemen, called the exchange of strikes “a grave escalation in an already fragile and volatile regional context”. “I once again urge all stakeholders to exercise the utmost restraint and refrain from escalatory actions that risk inflicting further suffering on civilians,” he posted on X. – Agencies