Houthis Attack Abha Airport After Saudi Strike Disables Sanaa Runway, UN Envoy Warns

A volley of fire between the Iranian-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia threatened to upend a 2022 truce in Yemen after the tit-for-tat attacks started July 13, when a Saudi airstrike hit the runway of the airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, preventing the landing of an Iranian flight carrying a high-ranking Houthi delegation.

“The tit-for-tat attacks started July 13 with a Saudi airstrike”

The Morning Call

U.N. envoy Hans Grundberg warned that "Yemen today faces a greater risk of renewed large-scale conflict than at any point since the U.N.-brokered truce of April 2022," and said the escalation risks "jeopardizing the gains of the 2022 truce" while drawing the country into a broader regional confrontation.

Al-Jazeera Net

The Houthis proceeded with the flight operated by Iranian-privately owned, U.S.-sanctioned Mahan Air, forcing the Saudi-led strike that disabled the Sanaa airport, and the Saudi-led coalition later allowed the flight to land in the Houthi-controlled city of Hodeida as part of an Omani-led effort to avert an escalation.

Following the Sanaa airport strike, the Houthis attacked the Abha airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia and announced a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, while the Saudi-led coalition responded with strikes on Hodeida and Kamaran and reinforced Yemeni troops along the front lines in Yemen to launch a ground offensive on Houthis.

U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg expressed deep concern over recent attacks by Iran-backed Houthis on the western Yemeni city of Al-Mukha, calling for an end to the escalation and the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Grundberg said he was "deeply concerned" by reports that the latest Houthi attacks on Al-Mukha caused civilian and military casualties and damaged infrastructure, including the port.

Anadolu Ajansı

Yemen’s army said four soldiers and three civilians were killed when the Iran-backed Houthis attacked the city and port of Al-Mukha with missiles and drones on Sunday, and TRT World reported that Yemeni forces were also dealing with "hostile drones" that attempted to approach vital facilities in Aden.

The Houthis have controlled the capital Sana and several other areas of Yemen since September 2014, while a Saudi Arabia-led coalition has supported Yemen's Aden-based government against the Houthis since March 2015, and military tensions between the Yemeni government and the Houthis have risen again since the beginning of July.

The escalation has put Yemen’s 2022 UN-brokered truce under strain as the Houthis widened attacks beyond Yemen’s capital and into maritime chokepoints, with the Morning Call describing how the Houthis attacked the Red Sea city of Mokha and severely damaged the city’s crucial port, which remains under the control of the internationally recognized government.

“the war has turned Yemen to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises”

The Morning Call

Hans Grundberg warned that the conflict in Yemen could only be brought to a sustainable end through an inclusive political process, and said the current escalation was moving the country in the opposite direction.

In parallel, The National framed the Houthis’ strategy as seeking to regionalise the confrontation in support of Iran, with a former Yemeni diplomat saying, "Sanaa has the right to act at the time it considers appropriate," while another source in Yemen’s capital said Riyadh’s action "effectively gave Yemen a free hand to retaliate and break the blockade."

The stakes are also economic and humanitarian, with the Morning Call stating that the war has turned Yemen to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and that people living in the Houthi-held territories are the most hungry.