Yemen’s Houthis Threaten Saudi Arabia After Yemeni Air Defenses Intercept Saudi Warplanes

A mass rally in Sanaa’s Al-Sabeen Square on Friday evening expressed gratitude to Iran for breaking the “brutal 11‑year siege on Sanaa International Airport,” after Yemeni air defenses intercepted Saudi warplanes attempting to block an Iranian civilian flight.

“The Sanaa airport, under the control of the Houthi rebels in Yemen, resumed operations yesterday, about ten days after being bombed by the Israeli army, said Yahya al-Sayani, deputy minister of Transport in the Houthi administration”

Air Journal

Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said that at 5:20 AM on Friday, Saudi coalition warplanes violated Yemeni airspace to prevent an Iranian civilian aircraft from landing at Sanaa International Airport, carrying “more than 200 stranded, wounded and sick citizens.”

Air Journal

Saree said Yemeni air defense forces fired “a number of air defense missiles,” forcing the Saudi warplanes to leave Yemeni airspace, and he warned Saudi Arabia against repeating any violation with a “comprehensive response” targeting Saudi airports and vital interests on land and sea.

Yemen’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abdulwahid Abu Ras framed the episode as a contrast between a civilian aircraft carrying patients and warplanes carrying bombs and missiles, saying, “The first was a civilian aircraft carrying patients, wounded people, humanitarian cases, and official delegations.”

The rally also referenced the Iranian flight’s role in enabling the transport of official and public delegations to Tehran for funeral ceremonies for Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, described as the “martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution.”

In a video statement, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree warned, “Such actions will be met with a comprehensive response targeting its airports and vital interests on land and sea,” after the group accused Saudi warplanes of an airspace intrusion.

Saree said the Houthis confronted Saudi “warplanes” that allegedly tried to prevent an Iranian civilian aircraft from landing at Sanaa International Airport at 5:20am (02:20 GMT), adding that flights between Sanaa and Tehran “will continue despite any possible consequences.”

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera reported that Houthi media said the aircraft successfully landed and returned to Tehran carrying the Houthi delegation to attend the funeral of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who the report says was killed in United States-Israeli strikes.

The Al Jazeera account also tied the renewed threats to the months-old context of a prisoner exchange confirmed in May that included seven Saudis, and it described the Houthis as having been at war with Yemen’s government since 2015.

The rally coverage in Saba described participants supporting the Armed Forces’ statement and expressing gratitude for Iran’s position in breaking the blockade, under the slogan “The airport will reopen and the blockade will be broken, despite all the wicked.”

A Yemeni writer and poet, Zain al-Abidin al-Dhabiibi, said directing a direct Iranian flight to Sana’a International Airport under Houthi control “constitutes a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the Yemeni Republic.”

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Al-Manar TV Lebanon

In a Facebook post read by Al-Mashhad al-Yemeni, al-Dhabiibi argued that the event renews evidence that the Houthis act as an instrument to implement the Iranian agenda, and he warned that protecting Yemeni sovereignty and preventing the airspace and national territory from becoming a platform for Iranian threats is a shared responsibility.

Al-Mushahid Net quoted Assistant Defense Minister for Public Policies and International Cooperation, Major General Sameer Al-Sabri, saying the plane did not pass beyond the monitoring and tracking system and that its flight path was from Omani airspace toward the Jawf desert, then north over Khmir District to the northern runway of Sanaa airport “at five in the morning.”

Al-Sabri said that as a civilian aircraft, “it is difficult to deal with it by shooting it down,” citing international cautions and considerations related to civilian air travel.

Al-Mushahid Net also cited law professor Abdullah Al-Mughazi saying the landing of the Iranian plane at Sanaa Airport violates “the spirit and text of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216,” and it quoted him adding that the development “reflects, in his assessment, a retreat in the effectiveness of the pressure tools relied upon by the international community and the coalition.”