Saudi Arabia bombs Houthi airport to block Iranian flights – report

Houthis claim that Saudi Arabia carried out a surprise attack on Sanaa airport, reigniting war between the two sides.

By World Israel News Staff

Yemen’s Houthi authorities accused Saudi Arabia of restarting the war between the two sides Monday after reported airstrikes struck the runways at Sanaa International Airport.

Residents of the Houthi-controlled capital reported several explosions near the airport as military aircraft continued flying over the city.

Houthi-run media attributed the attack to Saudi Arabia, but Riyadh did not immediately confirm that its forces had conducted the strikes.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, and the extent of the damage was not initially clear.

The Houthi-controlled Saba news agency cited a security source as saying a series of strikes hit the airport’s landing and takeoff runways. The source described the attacking aircraft as Saudi and American, although there was no immediate confirmation of US involvement.

According to the Iranian pro-regime outlet Fars, the strikes came after an Iranian jet landed in Sanaa on Monday morning.

The Houthi-run Foreign Ministry said the attack had ended the period of relative calm that followed a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022.

Saudi Arabia had “ended the de-escalation and ceasefire phase and announced the beginning of war,” the ministry said.

The statement warned that Riyadh had placed itself in a “major strategic predicament” and would “pay heavy prices” for the attack.

The reported strikes followed a sharp rise in tensions over Saudi efforts to restrict direct flights between Iran and Houthi-controlled Yemen.

Earlier this month, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed Saudi warplanes had entered Yemeni airspace in an attempt to prevent an Iranian civilian aircraft from landing at Sanaa airport.

According to the Houthis, the aircraft was carrying more than 200 wounded, sick and stranded Yemenis. The group said it fired air-defense missiles at the Saudi planes and forced them to withdraw, a claim that was not independently verified.

Saree subsequently warned that any additional Saudi action would trigger attacks on “Saudi airports and vital interests on land and sea.”

Houthi media said the Iranian aircraft later returned to Tehran carrying an official Yemeni delegation that had traveled to attend the funeral of former Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Saudi-led coalition rejected the Houthi account of the confrontation, accusing the group of attempting to “divert attention away” from its own violations against Yemenis.

The coalition also warned that any attack on Saudi Arabia would receive a response of “unprecedented force.”

Monday’s reported airstrikes appeared to be the first publicly reported Saudi attack on Houthi-controlled Sanaa since relations between the two sides began moving toward an unofficial ceasefire.

Saudi Arabia entered Yemen’s civil war in March 2015 at the head of a coalition supporting the internationally recognized government after the Houthis seized Sanaa and drove the government from the capital.

Years of fighting failed to dislodge the Iran-aligned group, which now controls most of northern Yemen and territory containing a majority of the country’s population.

The war killed hundreds of thousands of people through fighting, hunger and disease and produced one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.

Large-scale cross-border fighting fell sharply after the UN-mediated truce began in April 2022. Although the formal agreement expired six months later, Saudi Arabia and the Houthis generally maintained the halt in direct attacks while negotiating through Omani intermediaries.

The relative calm allowed limited commercial flights to resume from Sanaa airport and raised hopes that Riyadh could reach a permanent agreement allowing it to withdraw from the conflict.

Those negotiations did not produce a comprehensive settlement, however. Major disagreements remained over government salaries in Houthi-controlled territory, control of oil revenue, foreign forces in Yemen and restrictions on airports and ports.

The latest confrontation over Iranian flights has now threatened to unravel that informal arrangement.

The Houthis maintain close political and military relations with Tehran, although they deny operating as an Iranian proxy. Iran has provided the group with weapons technology, training and other forms of assistance, according to the United States and its allies.

The group has demonstrated its ability to strike deep inside Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones, previously targeting airports, oil installations and other infrastructure.

Since the outbreak of the Gaza war, the Houthis have also launched missiles and drones at Israel and attacked commercial vessels in the Red Sea, saying they were acting in support of the Palestinians.

Israel and the United States have responded with repeated strikes against Houthi military sites and infrastructure, including Sanaa airport and ports on Yemen’s Red Sea coast.