Emergency crews respond at Sanaa International Airport after an aircraft was damaged during an incident at the airport.
Photo credit: South China Morning Post

NNA News - Yemen’s internationally recognised government has bombed the runway at Sanaa International Airport and closed the country's airspace. Officials said the strike on Monday was aimed at stopping an Iranian aircraft from landing in the Houthi-held capital. The government accused the Houthis of allowing the Iranian aircraft to enter Yemeni airspace while blocking a Yemeni aircraft. In a statement, it called the Houthis "a terrorist militia supported by the Iranian regime" and said they "insisted that the Iranian aircraft violate Yemeni airspace. Therefore, the airport runway was targeted."

The move came hours after the Defence Ministry told civilians, aid workers and diplomats to leave the airport. It described the arrival of the Iranian aircraft as "a violation of Yemeni territory". Yemen's Civil Aviation Authority then closed all airports "until further notice". Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council in Aden, said the government would not back down. "We will not allow any aircraft to violate our airspace, whether it be Sana'a Airport or any other airport," he said. "We will deter any attempt to impose a fait accompli that infringes on our sovereignty."

He added that the government had ordered restraint "to prevent Tehran from dragging Yemen and its people into further wars". The Houthis responded by blaming Saudi Arabia for the attack. In a televised address, military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the strike "will not go unanswered or unpunished" and declared that "the Saudi enemy has ended the de-escalation phase."  The group also said it would respond to "any hostile aircraft violating Yemen's airspace by all available means."

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV later reported the Iranian aircraft had diverted to Al Hudaydah on the Red Sea coast. The group's transport minister said it was carrying medical patients and stranded citizens, along with an official Yemeni delegation. In a separate accusation, the internationally recognised government's information minister, Moammar bin Mutahar Al-Eryan, said Houthi fighters had seized an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aircraft at Sanaa airport and detained its pilot and co-pilot.

Smoke rises from an aircraft at Sanaa International Airport following a strike that damaged part of the airport in Yemen.
Photo credit: South China Morning Post

The strike has raised fears of a wider escalation. Yemen’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it "marks the end of the truce and the beginning of a new phase of war." Ansarullah, the formal name of the Houthi movement, said its political bureau called the attack "a dangerous escalatory step" and that "the Yemeni nation reserves the right to respond". The Houthis also accused Riyadh of targeting an Iranian aircraft in Sanaa carrying a Houthi delegation. The delegation had attended the funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran.

The attack threatens a fragile UN-brokered truce. Sanaa and much of northern Yemen have been under Houthi control since 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to support the government, which now operates from Aden.