Yemen government says it attacked Houthi-controlled Sanaa airport, reviving dormant conflict

Lead

Yemen’s internationally recognised government said it carried out air strikes on the runway at Houthi-controlled Sanaa International Airport, stating that the operation was intended to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing without authorisation. The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack, launched missiles toward targets in the kingdom including Abha airport, and warned that further aggression would not go unanswered. The exchange, reported across outlets including the BBC, Dawn, Al Jazeera and the Jerusalem Post, represents the most significant flare-up in years between the sides and threatens an informal truce that has largely held since 2022 even after it formally expired.

According to accounts carried by Dawn and the BBC, the government move followed unsuccessful efforts to persuade a Houthi delegation that had travelled to Tehran for the funeral of Iran’s late supreme leader to return on a flight operated by the domestic carrier Yemenia rather than an Iranian aircraft. Yemen’s defence ministry accused the Houthis of allowing an Iranian plane to violate Yemeni territory and said the airport runway was therefore targeted. Smoke was reported rising after the strike on the facility in the capital.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of ending the de-escalation phase and declared that the aggression would not go unanswered or unpunished. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said air defences dealt with a ballistic missile threat launched by the Houthis toward Saudi Arabia’s southern region. The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, said he had ordered that the scope of the confrontation not be expanded.

Coverage comparison

Reporting by the BBC framed the episode as a conflict escalation in which the Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for air strikes on Sanaa’s airport while the Saudi-backed Yemeni government claimed responsibility. The BBC placed the events against the backdrop of a civil war that began in 2014, noting the scale of casualties and humanitarian need. Dawn’s coverage similarly centred on the government claim of responsibility, the Houthi accusation against Riyadh, threats of retaliation, and a warning from a US-based risk advisory firm that the ceasefire could collapse if a cycle of action and retaliation continued.

Al Jazeera’s account emphasised regional tensions and the intertwining of the Yemeni conflict with wider US-Iran dynamics. It reported that an Iranian aircraft entered Yemeni airspace, that the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of attacking the airport, and that the US Department of State linked Houthi attacks to Iranian aggression. Al Jazeera also noted contacts between Saudi military leadership and US Central Command. The Jerusalem Post highlighted the Houthi leader’s subsequent warning that Saudi oil and other vital facilities could become targets for missiles and drones, describing the missile firings at Saudi Arabia and the accusation that the kingdom had bombed an airport under Houthi control, while connecting the episode to the broader US-Iran confrontation.

Across these accounts the core sequence is consistent: a government-claimed strike on the Sanaa runway tied to an Iranian flight, Houthi attribution of the attack to Saudi Arabia, missile launches toward the kingdom, and explicit threats of further response. Differences appear mainly in emphasis—humanitarian toll and war chronology in the BBC’s reporting, sovereignty and aviation restrictions in Dawn’s, US-Iran linkage in Al Jazeera’s, and the scale of threatened Houthi targeting of Saudi infrastructure in the Jerusalem Post’s.

Key claims

• The Houthis launched missiles at Abha airport in Saudi Arabia in response to air strikes on Sanaa’s airport that they blamed on the kingdom, as reported by the BBC, Dawn and the Jerusalem Post.
• The Saudi-backed Yemeni government claimed responsibility for the air strikes on Sanaa’s airport, saying it had wanted to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in the capital without authorisation, a claim carried by the BBC, Dawn and related accounts.
• Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the government from Sanaa; the conflict escalated in 2015 after a Saudi-led coalition intervened, according to the BBC and the Jerusalem Post.
• The conflict has reportedly left more than 150,000 people dead and left more than 22 million people in need of some form of aid, according to the UN, as reported by the BBC.
• Houthi officials have threatened retaliation against Saudi Arabia, warning that any further aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished, a position reported by Dawn, the BBC and the Jerusalem Post.
• Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi warned that all Saudi oil and other vital facilities would be targets for the group’s missiles and drones if Riyadh escalated its involvement, and set out an “airports for airports, ports for ports” equation, as reported by the Jerusalem Post.
• The US Department of State has linked Houthi attacks to Iranian aggression and warned that the group’s actions threaten core US interests in the region, including freedom of navigation, as reported by Al Jazeera.
• Mohammed al-Basha of the US-based risk advisory Basha Report warned that continued action and retaliation could mark the collapse of the April 2022 ceasefire framework and signal a return to a more intense phase of conflict, according to Dawn.

Perspectives

Yemen’s internationally recognised government and defence ministry presented the Sanaa runway strike as a defensive assertion of sovereignty, arguing that the Houthis had permitted an Iranian aircraft to violate Yemeni territory and that the target was limited to preventing an unauthorised landing. Presidential Leadership Council head Rashad al-Alimi stressed that he had ordered the confrontation not be widened.

The Houthis rejected that framing, accusing Saudi Arabia of ending de-escalation and of maintaining a long-running siege. Spokesman Yahya Saree and, later, leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi cast the missile launches as legitimate response and warned that Saudi airports, ports, oil facilities and other vital sites could face reciprocal attack, while announcing measures described as a maritime embargo affecting Saudi shipping, including references to the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Iran condemned the airport attack as a clear violation of international law, according to foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei as cited in the source material. The US Department of State, in Al Jazeera’s reporting, tied Houthi attacks to Iranian aggression and affirmed support for Saudi Arabia in confronting that threat while monitoring regional developments. Risk analyst Mohammed al-Basha cautioned that the trajectory of the next days—and the status of the aircraft the rebels said had landed—would indicate whether both sides pull back or slide toward sustained military escalation.