Leading Houthi threatens 'siege' on Saudi Arabia after Yemen airport attack

A leading Houthi official has issued a stark warning of a "siege" on Saudi Arabia, escalating tensions following an attack on Sanaa International Airport. Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political bureau, stated that the group has the right to strike Saudi airports and impose a siege in response to the perceived attack on Sanaa. The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for the airport strike, which occurred as an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation was approaching. However, Yemen's internationally recognized government claimed responsibility, asserting the attack was necessary to prevent an Iranian plane, allegedly carrying weapons, from landing in the Houthi-controlled capital. Al-Bukhaiti declared that Monday's attack marked the end of the "de-escalation phase" of Yemen's protracted conflict, which began with a Houthi takeover in 2014. This development follows recent clashes in Hodeidah and threatens to unravel a four-year period of relative calm established by a temporary truce. The targeted strikes on Sanaa Airport's runway occurred as the Iranian delegation, which included al-Bukhaiti, was en route from Tehran after attending the funeral of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The Iranian airliner was subsequently diverted to Hodeidah. In a retaliatory move, the Houthis launched a ballistic missile salvo toward Saudi Arabia's Abha International Airport, though the Saudi-led coalition reported successfully intercepting the missiles. The Houthis have vowed further action to ensure flights between Sanaa and Tehran continue, expressing readiness to paralyze Saudi airports to achieve this objective. The recent tensions were ignited by a flight between Tehran and Sanaa on July 3, the first publicly announced Iranian flight to the Yemeni capital in over a decade, which the Houthis accused Saudi warplanes of attempting to intercept.

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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.