Yemen’s Saudi-backed army bombs Houthi-held Sanaa airport to block Iranian plane

Rebels say plane landed anyway, without saying where, blame Saudi Arabia and vow retaliation, as tensions flare between group and internationally recognized Yemeni government

Yemen’s internationally recognized government said it struck Sanaa airport Monday, as the Houthis blamed the government’s Saudi backers for the attack, in the biggest escalation in years between authorities and the Iran-backed rebels.

The government said it had wanted to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in the Yemeni capital, after it failed to convince the Houthi delegation that went to Tehran for the funeral of Iran’s slain supreme leader to board a Yemenia flight instead.

“The terrorist Houthi militias — backed by the Iranian regime — prevented Yemeni national aircraft from landing at the airport in the capital, Sanaa, while insisting on allowing an Iranian plane to violate Yemeni territory; consequently, the airport runway was targeted,” the Yemeni defense ministry said.

Earlier on Monday, the government’s defense minister said it had exhausted diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran and the Houthis to stop what he described as Iranian aircraft violating Yemeni airspace. He said government forces would respond to any hostile aircraft violating Yemen’s airspace “by all available means,” and held Iran responsible.

Moammar bin Mutahar Al-Eryan, the information minister in the internationally recognized government, additionally 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.

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However, the Houthis claimed later that the Iranian plane had landed in Yemen.

Houthi broadcaster al-Masirah quoted the group’s transportation minister as saying, “The Iranian plane has landed on the homeland’s soil, carrying a number of medical patients and stranded citizens, accompanied by the official delegation of the Republic of Yemen.”

It did not specify where the plane landed.

Tensions had been rising for days for days, after the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia earlier this month of attacking an Iranian plane that landed in Sanaa and took off carrying the delegation.

The rebels had threatened at the time to hit Saudi airports and vital assets should Riyadh attempt to attack it again.

The latest escalation raised the specter of renewed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia after years of relative calm.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of “ending the de-escalation phase and bearing full responsibility for the consequences of its aggression. We affirm that this aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished.”

There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia to the accusations.

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 recognized government to relocate to the south.

The government, operating from the southern port of Aden, retains the backing of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

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