Sanaa airport hit as ME conflict escalates

The Houthi movement that controls northern Yemen accused Saudi Arabia on Monday of launching airstrikes against the international airport in Sanaa, and vowed to retaliate, testing a truce in the long-running conflict between the kingdom and the Iran-aligned group.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree called the attacks "blatant aggression" and said they had ended a period of de-escalation. He said regional power Saudi Arabia would bear the consequences and that the attack would not go unanswered.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said it intercepted ballistic missiles fired at the country's south by Yemen's Houthi movement on Monday.

Saudi air defenses "have dealt with a threat from ballistic missiles launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward the southern region," the spokesperson for a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said on X.

The general aviation authority of Yemen's Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government ordered the closure of all airports nationwide, before announcing hours later that they had reopened.

Earlier on Monday, the government's defence ministry said the runway at Sanaa International Airport had been targeted to prevent an Iranian plane from landing. An armed forces spokesman later said the aircraft had landed at Houthi-controlled Hodeidah airport.

It was unclear whether any attempt had been made to stop it from landing in Hodeidah, about 150 km (93 miles) southwest of Sanaa, on Yemen's Red Sea coast.

Another minister said the Houthis were detaining another plane, belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross, at Sanaa airport.

The government, which operates from the southern port of Aden, has the support of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.

In addition to straining a ceasefire in the conflict, Monday's violence may upset broader efforts to defuse conflict in the region linked to the Iran war, given the Houthis are aligned with Tehran.

Saudi Arabia has remained relatively isolated from the Iran conflict and has not faced the same degree of Iranian attacks as other Gulf states. A return to conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia could change that.

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.

Years of fighting in Yemen after a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 against the Houthis triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Violence flared again late last year after a separatist movement backed by the United Arab Emirates swept through territory in the south, splintering the Saudi-led coalition created to fight the Houthis.