Houthis vow to continue attacking Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians after Israeli air strikes on Yemen. We ask the US envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, where this escalation could lead. Also in the programme: NASA says it has successfully flown a space probe closer to the sun than ever before - one of its scientists tells us what happens next; and this year’s Booker Prize winning novelist Samantha Harvey and the retired astronaut Cady Coleman discuss life on the International Space Station. (Photo: Houthi supporters protest against the USA and Israel in Sana'a, Yemen. Credit: YAHYA ARHAB/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
You're listening to the BBC World Service.
This is NewsHour with Owen Bennett Jones.
And we start in the Middle east, where Hamas and Hezbollah will start 2025, much weaker than they were a year ago, and where Israel is now turning its attention to another Iranian proxy force, the Houthis, in Yemen.
Now, Israel and the Houthis are exchanging missiles as well as hostile rhetoric.
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has told an Israeli TV station, we're just getting started with them.
Amongst other targets, the Israeli airstrikes have been aimed at Sana'a International Airport.
Meanwhile, a senior member of the Houthi movement in Yemen has told NewsHour the group will continue its attacks.
We'll hear more from him in a minute.
But first, Julian Harness, the UN Coordinator in Yemen.
He said the international airport had a crucial function for the people of Yemen.
It is the location whereby all of the international humanitarian aid workers who work in the north of the country come in and leave by.
So if that airport is disabled, it will paralyze the humanitarian operations.
It's also the airport by which thousands.
Of Yemenis who are unable to get.
Decent advanced health care in the country leave to go either to Jordan or to Cairo, eventually to Mumbai to get advanced health care.
And it's worth saying that the World Health Organization had senior delegation in the airport when it was targeted.
Well, earlier today, we managed to get through Tsarna to speak to a senior Houthi representative.
Andrew Peach has been speaking to Mohammed Al Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis political bureau.
We are committed to continuing our military operation in support of Gaza, and we will not stop until the genocide crimes and the siege on Gaza stop.