Yemen's Houthis fire ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia after government bombs Sanaa airport to block Iranian plane

Flight dispute sparks attack

On Monday, the internationally recognised Yemeni government bombed the runway of Sanaa International Airport to prevent an Iranian plane from landing. The aircraft was bringing a Houthi delegation back from Tehran, where they had attended the funeral of former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The government said it had tried to persuade the Houthis to use a Yemeni airline flight, but the group insisted on the Iranian aircraft. The defence ministry stated the attack aimed to stop the plane entering Yemeni airspace. The Houthis had already accused Saudi Arabia of deploying fighter jets on 3 July to block an earlier Iranian flight that flew the delegation to Iran.

This attack will not go unanswered or unpunished.

Houthi retaliation and Saudi interception

Soon after the airport strike, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree declared the end of a de-escalation phase with Saudi Arabia and warned of retaliation. The Houthis then launched ballistic missiles toward southern Saudi Arabia. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said air defences intercepted the threat. No casualties were reported. The Houthis and Saudi Arabia had been observing a truce since April 2022, after nearly a decade of war.

Air defences intercepted a ballistic missile threat launched by the terrorist Houthi militia.

Conflicting accounts of the landing

The Houthi-run Almasirah TV said the Iranian aircraft landed in Sanaa despite the bombing, while Iranian state media reported it landed in Hodeidah, a Red Sea port city under Houthi control. Houthi transport minister Mohamed Ayash Quhaim said Sanaa airport would be operational within two days. The Houthis had prepared three airports, Sanaa, Hodeidah, and Saada, for the plane's arrival, he said. The flight was operated by Mahan Air.

Government response and airport closure

Yemen's Saudi-backed government ordered the closure of all airports under its authority until further notice, including those in Houthi-controlled areas. Prime Minister Rashad al-Alimi said he ordered the scale of the confrontation not to be expanded, warning that an escalation would serve Iran's interests.

I ordered not to expand the scale of the confrontation. An expansion would achieve Iran's goal of dragging Yemen and its people into wars.

International alarm and fragile truce

The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, expressed deep concern and called for de-escalation, saying he was in contact with military representatives of all sides. The incident is the most serious breach of the peace since the 2022 truce. Analysts noted the flare-up follows months of heightened rhetoric and the first direct Iran-Yemen flight in more than a decade. The broader regional context includes a fragile US-Iran ceasefire and recent US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

We are deeply concerned about the risk of wider escalation and urge them to refrain from any actions that would risk a new cycle of violence in Yemen.