Arabic version: متحدث الحوثيين يتوعد بالانتقام بعد تقارير عن ضربات على مدرج صنعاء
The Iran-aligned Houthi movement that controls northern Yemen has accused Saudi Arabia of launching air strikes against Sanaa International Airport and vowed to retaliate.
According to ABC News, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree called the attacks on Monday “blatant aggression” and said they had ended a period of de-escalation in the long-running conflict. He said Saudi Arabia would bear the consequences and that the attack would not go unanswered. There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia to the accusations.
Earlier on Monday, Yemen’s internationally recognised government said its defence ministry had targeted the runway at Sanaa International Airport to prevent an Iranian plane from landing. The government’s defence minister said diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran and the Houthis to stop what he described as Iranian aircraft violating Yemeni airspace had been exhausted and that government forces would respond to any hostile aircraft violating Yemen’s airspace “by all available means.” The internationally recognised government operates from the southern port of Aden and retains the backing of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Moammar bin Mutahar Al-Eryan, the information minister in the internationally recognised government, said the Houthis were detaining an aircraft belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross at Sanaa airport and holding its pilot and co-pilot. The government’s statement linked the runway action to preventing the Iranian plane from landing.
This matters because Yemen has faced civil war and proxy warfare from outside powers for more than a decade, since the Houthis seized the capital and forced the internationally recognised government to relocate to the south. The competing claims over strikes on the airport, the reported detention of an ICRC aircraft and assertions of Iranian involvement underline ongoing risks to civilian flights and humanitarian operations in a conflict that involves regional backers.
What happens next: there was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia to the accusations.
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