CNN Reporter Joins Israeli Attack Flight to Yemen, Describes His Experience

MIDDLE EAST (VINnews) — CNN’s Nic Robertson flew along with the Israeli Air Force during its attack on Yemen Sunday, and wrote an article describing the experience in vivid detail.

Robertson flew aboard an IDF fighter jet refuel tanker. He was not permitted to bring his phone or a camera.

Here are some excerpts from his account:

“Aboard an aging Boeing 707, thousands of feet above the Red Sea, I don a set of high-tech 3D goggles and stare at the small TV monitor recessed in a bank of retro dials and switches. Saudi Arabia’s amber desert slides by to my right, Egypt’s coast to my left, then a monstrous F35 fighter jet fills the tiny screen.

“I am with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – the first foreign journalist to be taken on a combat mission more than a thousand miles from Israel aboard a fighter jet refuel tanker.

He added:

“Israel’s invitation to join this mission came with no detail about the plane’s destination. As I climb the plane’s rickety steps, I have no idea where I am going or what this IDF flight will reveal about military operations.

“Israeli Air Force security regulations are so tight neither I nor Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, the IDF spokesman accompanying me, are allowed to bring our cellphones aboard. Neither am I allowed to bring a camera or photojournalist.

“Except for the cockpit, I have access to the more than 50-year-old former commercial airliner, and its commanders, under the condition that they not be named….

“Flying 1,200 miles (1,500 kilometers), the refueling mission I discover I am joining is the IDF’s longest-range combat mission since a 1985 raid on Tunis.

“Shoshani reminds me of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s words to the United Nations General Assembly the day before. “There is no place … that the long arm of Israel cannot reach,” Netanyahu said, referring to Iran and the wider Middle East.

“For more than an hour and half, Israeli F35 fighter jets, each worth more than $100 million, close in behind the 707 tanker, nudging toward its trailing fuel pipe.

“The squadron commander, a 15-year refueling veteran, stares through his 3D goggles, merging two camera images. He jockeys the two long levers beside his seat and steers the nozzle toward the gas-hungry fighter jet’s fuel port.

“No part of this is easy, he tells me. The biggest challenge, he says, is making sure they load enough fuel, and timing the mission to the minute, so the F35s arrive on target with a full tank at precisely the moment their intelligence tells them it’s the best time to attack.

“When he shows me a map of the mission, I realize we are on the way to Hodeidah Port in Yemen, controlled by Houthi rebels, backed by Iran.

“Shoshani tells me the reason for this mission, is that over the past two weeks the Houthis have fired three long-range missiles, all intercepted near Tel Aviv.

“Starting with attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, the Houthis say they are acting out of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Their flag bears the phrases: “Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews.” But experts say the popular fight in the name of Gaza’s Palestinians has also helped the group build support in Yemen and gain international acclaim.

“The Houthis claim that their most recent attack, launched late Saturday, targeted Netanyahu as he arrived back from New York at Ben Gurion International Airport just outside Tel Aviv.

“An impact in this area could have caused huge civilian casualties and is the reason why, 16 hours later, this mission was deployed….”

He continued:

“I ask the lead pilot on the tanker, a reservist veteran aviator, about the challenges of such a mission and his feelings when civilians are killed. We don’t want to kill civilians, he tells me, and we use all the intelligence we have to avoid it.

“I point to the high death tolls in Gaza and Lebanon from Air Force strikes. We are targeting the Houthis, he tells me, they are firing missiles at our civilians, endangering them.

“The IDF says they targeted “power plants and a seaport in the areas of Ras Issa and Hodeidah,” adding the Houthis use the port to “transfer Iranian weapons to the region, and supplies for military needs, and thus also oil.”

“On the flight, Shoshani told me the message was for Iran too, a warning that while Israel is bracing for retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in Lebanon, they want the group’s sponsor, Iran, to stay out of the fight.”