ZURICH: The UN worker hurt in an Israeli air strike on Yemen’s main international airport on Thursday suffered serious injuries and has been evacuated to Jordan for further treatment, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
Israel said it had struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen, including Sanaa International Airport, and Houthi media said at least six people had been killed.
“Attacks on civilians and humanitarians must stop, everywhere. #NotATarget,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X that showed him sitting in a plane looking across at what appeared to be the injured man.
Tedros was at the airport waiting to depart when the aerial bombardment took place that injured the man, who worked for the UN Humanitarian Air Service. A spokesperson for the WHO said the man had been seriously injured.

Tedros said he and the UN worker were now in Jordan.
The man underwent a successful surgical procedure prior to his evacuation for further treatment, Tedros said.
He had been in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff and to assess the humanitarian situation.

LONDON: A former champion equestrian has revealed the torture he suffered when he was detained by the Syrian regime after besting the older brother of former ruler Bashar Assad.

Adnan Kassar told Sky News he endured 21 years of imprisonment, during which he was physically and mentally abused, after Bassel Assad, his teammate at the 1993 International Equestrian Championship, became irritated at his performances.

The two had been good friends, but Kassar’s showing won his team the gold medal at the event on home soil in the port city of Latakia, after Bassel had produced a poor display.

“The crowd lifted me on their shoulders. It was a moment of pure joy, but for Bassel, it wasn’t the same. That day marked the beginning of my nightmare,” Kassar told Sky.

He was later arrested over what he called “fabricated” accusations and subjected to severe physical and psychological abuse.

“I was kept underground for six months, beaten constantly, and interrogated without end,” he said.

Bassel had originally been tipped to succeed his father, Hafez Assad, as Syria’s ruler. However, Bassel died in a car crash in 1994, propelling the younger Bashar to power.

For Kassar, though, Bassel’s death only made his situation more dire, as he was transferred to Sednaya Prison, where “the torture only got worse.”

Kassar said: “They blamed me for his death. Every year on the anniversary of his passing, the torture intensified.”

He was later sent to Tadmur Prison for seven-and-a-half years.

“They pierced my ear one morning and broke my jaw in the evening,” Kassar said. “For praying, they lashed me 1,000 times. My feet were torn apart, my bones exposed.”

Kassar was released in 2014 after a campaign of appeals by international human rights groups. For years, he resisted discussing his time in captivity for fear of reprisals but felt ready to speak after the fall of the Assad family.

“After years of imprisonment, torture, and injustice, the revolution finally toppled the dictatorial regime,” he said.