Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement launched missile attacks on Saudi Arabia on Monday, bringing an end to a four-year truce. The Houthis accused the Saudi-led coalition of bombing an airport under their control, prompting the retaliatory strikes.
The Saudi-led coalition announced on social media platform X that it intercepted missiles aimed at the southern region of the kingdom. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree confirmed that the group targeted the international airport in Abha, located in Saudi Arabia’s mountainous southern area near the Yemeni border.
This marks the first Houthi attack on Saudi territory since an informal ceasefire began in March 2022. The escalation threatens to destabilize the relatively calm southern border, which had seen a reduction in Iranian drone and missile assaults earlier this year.
The missile exchange followed Houthi accusations that Saudi Arabia had conducted airstrikes on Sanaa’s international airport, which the Houthis control. Labeling the strikes as “blatant aggression,” the Houthis cautioned commercial airlines against flying through Saudi airspace until the blockade on Sanaa airport is lifted.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s internationally recognized government, supported by Riyadh, claimed responsibility for the attack on Sanaa airport. The Yemeni defense ministry stated the runway was targeted to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing, describing it as a violation of Yemen’s sovereignty.
Later reports from Yemeni military officials indicated that the Iranian plane had landed instead at Hodeidah airport, a Houthi-controlled port on the Red Sea about 150 kilometers southwest of Sanaa.
The incident coincides with claims from a Yemeni government minister that the Houthis are holding an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) plane at Sanaa airport. The ICRC’s Middle East spokesperson, Hachem Osseiran, confirmed the safety of all staff and crew but declined to provide further details on the aircraft’s detention.
Tensions in the region had already been rising after a planned prisoner exchange between the Houthis and the Yemeni government collapsed last week, with both sides blaming each other for the failure.
Yemen has been engulfed in a civil and proxy war for over a decade since the Houthis seized Sanaa, triggering a Saudi-led coalition intervention in 2015. Although a UN-brokered truce in 2022 had largely halted major cross-border hostilities, Monday’s missile attacks signify a serious setback for regional diplomatic efforts.
