Houthis fire missiles at Saudi Arabia, breaking years of calm

RIYADH: Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement fired missiles at Saudi Arabia on Monday, ending a four-year truce after accusing the Saudi-led coalition of bombing an airport under Houthi control.

The Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen stated on social media platform X that it had intercepted missiles directed at the kingdom’s southern region. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree confirmed the group targeted the international airport in Abha, the capital of Saudi Arabia’s mountainous southern region bordering Yemen.

The strikes represent the first claimed Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia since an informal truce took effect in March 2022. The escalation threatens to renew conflict on the Saudi southern border, which had remained relatively stable following a de-escalation of Iranian drone and missile attacks earlier this year.

Dispute over Sanaa airport strike

The exchange of fire followed accusations by the Houthis, who control northern Yemen, that Saudi Arabia had launched airstrikes against the international airport in Sanaa. Terming the strikes “blatant aggression,” the Houthis warned commercial airlines against using Saudi airspace until the blockade on Sanaa airport is lifted.

However, the internationally recognised government of Yemen, which is backed by Riyadh, claimed responsibility for the strike on Sanaa airport. The Yemeni defence ministry stated that the runway was targeted to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing, which it termed a violation of national sovereignty.

Yemeni military officials later reported that the Iranian aircraft instead landed at Hodeidah airport, a Houthi-controlled Red Sea port situated approximately 150 kilometres southwest of Sanaa.

Rising regional tensions

The incident coincides with reports from a Yemeni government minister that the Houthis are detaining an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aircraft at Sanaa airport. ICRC Middle East spokesperson Hachem Osseiran confirmed that all staff and crew members were safe but declined to comment further on the detention of the aircraft.

Tensions had already been mounting in the region after a planned prisoner exchange deal between the Houthis and the Yemeni government fell through last week, with both sides trading blame for the failure.

Yemen has been locked in a civil and proxy war for over a decade since the Houthis seized Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition intervention in 2015. While a UN-brokered truce in 2022 had largely stopped major cross-border hostilities, Monday’s developments mark a significant breakdown in regional diplomatic efforts.