The head of the World Health Organisation has told the BBC that it was public knowledge he was in Yemen on Thursday when Israel launched airstrikes on Houthi targets. Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the main target, the International Airport in Sanaa was a civilian facility and should not have been hit. Also in the programme: Taliban forces from Afghanistan are reported to have clashed with Pakistan's army on their border as tensions between the two countries grow; the phenomenon of mass violent attacks in China; and a new BBC documentary about Maria Callas, one of the greatest opera singers of the 20th century and why her amazing talent didn't last longer. (Photo: Dr Tedros. Credit: Getty Images)
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Hello there.
Welcome to NewsHour from the BBC World Service.
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I'm Ben James.
The head of the World Health Organization has told the BBC that he assumes Israel knew he was at Yemen's international airport on Thursday when they hit it with airstrikes.
The presence of someone with his global profile has thrown a new spotlight on the escalating conflict between Israel and the Iran backed Houthi group.
After months of Houthi attacks, including on Tel Aviv a week ago, Israel says it was targeting military infrastructure at the airport in Sana'a.
Footage from inside a terminal building appears to show passengers abandoning trolleys piled with suitcases and running outside.
The WHO is a UN agency and its head, Dr.
Tedros Adhanam Ghebreyesus was in the airport on a trip to negotiate the release of UN staff members detained by the Houthis.
He's been giving his account of what's happened to the BBC's Sean Farrington.
We didn't want to miss the window of opportunity we got in order to have our colleagues be released from detention.
And you know, it's a holiday season also when almost everybody is having resting.
But we prefer to prioritize our colleagues.
And that's why I accepted the mission and representing the Secretary General and travel to negotiate.
And the discussion was actually good and we agreed on very important four points for their release.
But then on Thursday after we concluded our mission, left for the airport and while waiting to board and almost close to walking to the airport, to the airplane actually to board, we heard a heavy explosion nearby.
And then I think repeated, I saw actually a video that surfaced now colleagues and people from the airport actually took me out of the room.
We were.