ع
The Houthi military spokesperson announced that Saudi Arabia carried out four airstrikes targeting the runway and facilities at Sanaa International Airport on Monday evening. The strikes caused material damage to the airport infrastructure but no immediate civilian casualties were reported in the initial assessment. Yahya Saree warned that the aggression would receive a suitable response and urged international airlines to avoid Saudi airspace until what the group calls the siege on Sanaa is lifted. Operativ Məlumat Mərkəzi reported the Houthi claim which attributed the operation directly to Saudi forces without providing independent verification.
The accusation fits a pattern that began with a July 13 2026 strike on the same airport according to Reuters. That earlier action prevented an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation from landing in the capital a move the internationally recognised Yemeni government said was necessary to defend its sovereignty. The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia at the time and responded with missile and drone strikes on Abha International Airport in southern Saudi Arabia. Saudi coalition forces said they intercepted the projectiles launched toward the kingdom.
Al Jazeera reported that Mohammed al-Bukhaiti a senior Houthi political bureau member threatened reciprocal measures against Saudi airports following the initial July attack. “Their willingness to attack Sanaa Airport to prevent flights from arriving or departing gives Yemen the right to strike their airports and to impose on them a siege just as they have done to us” al-Bukhaiti said. The Houthi official framed the airport dispute as justification for imposing a blockade on Saudi facilities until Sanaa regains full operational freedom.
Saudi authorities have not commented directly on the latest Houthi allegation of four airstrikes Reuters noted. The kingdom’s communication office did not immediately respond to requests for information on the Sanaa claims. Earlier this month the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation reported that Houthi attacks on Abha and Riyadh airports killed three civilians and injured 36 others. The victims included a Moroccan woman an Algerian woman and a Sudanese national according to the authority’s breakdown of the casualties.
Houthi strikes on Saudi aviation targets continued into October with additional damage reported at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh according to Al Jazeera. The Saudi-led coalition responded with airstrikes on missile launch platforms in Sanaa destroying three such sites its spokesperson said. Ground fighting has escalated around Taiz where Houthi forces have encircled government positions and along Yemen’s western coast.
The sequence traces back to the July incident involving an Iranian aircraft that the Yemeni government said violated its airspace AP News reported. Houthi officials have maintained that the Sanaa airport remains under effective blockade by the Saudi-led coalition since the strikes began. The group has pledged to continue operations aimed at lifting restrictions on flights into the capital including those connecting to Tehran.
