SANAA: The Yemeni government on Monday attacked the international airport in the capital in its biggest flare-up in years with the Houthis, who blamed Saudi Arabia for threatening to unravel a UN-negotiated truce that has been holding since 2022.

The Saudi-backed Yemeni government claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it wanted to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in Sanaa, after failing to convince a Houthi delegation that went to Tehran for the slain Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral to board a Yemenia flight instead.

After the strike, the government ordered the closure of all airports in the country “until further notice, with immediate effect”.

While the Houthis control Yemen’s capital Sanaa and much of the north, the internationally-recognised government holds much of the south.

Since a Saudi-led coalition entered the war in 2015 to back the Yemen’s government in the south, the coalition has been accused of conducting strikes on the Houthis on behalf of the Yemen government. The Houthis appeared to have challenged this arrangement by organising direct flights from Iran to Sanaa, angering Saudi Arabia.

While accusing Saudi Arabia of ending the de-escalation phase on Monday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree warned the aggression would “not go unanswered or unpunished”. The Houthis also warned airlines to avoid Saudi airspace.

After the strike on the Sanaa airport, an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation back from Tehran landed in Yemen, the Houthis said on Monday.

Al-Masirah quoted the Houthi transport minister as saying “the Iranian plane has landed on the homeland’s soil, carrying a number of medical patients and stranded citizens, accompanied by the official delegation of the Republic of Yemen”. The Yemen armed forces spokesman later said the aircraft had landed at Hodeidah airport.

Hours later, Saudi Arabia said it intercepted ballistic missiles fired at the country’s south by Yemen’s Houthi movement. Saudi air defenses “have dealt with a threat from ballistic missiles” launched by the Houthis towards the southern region, the spokesperson for a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2026