Missiles launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen toward Saudi Arabia, escalating an Iranian passenger flight rapidly into the most serious Saudi-Houthi confrontation since the 2022 truce.
Reuters reported the Iran-backed Houthis said they fired missiles at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport after strikes earlier in the day damaged the runway at Sanaa International Airport.
Saudi authorities said the missiles were intercepted and reported no casualties.
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The retaliation came hours after Yemen’s internationally recognized government announced that it had targeted Sanaa’s runway to prevent an Iranian Mahan Air aircraft from landing, arguing that repeated flights from Iran violated Yemen’s sovereignty. The aircraft later diverted to Hodeidah, another Houthi-controlled airport on the Red Sea coast.
Since the United Nations brokered a nationwide truce in 2022, Saudi Arabia has largely shifted from direct military operations toward diplomacy, seeking a negotiated exit from a conflict that has consumed billions of dollars and exposed critical Saudi infrastructure to repeated drone and missile attacks. Cross-border strikes had fallen dramatically during that period.
Monday’s exchange suggests that restraint has broken down. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree declared that the movement’s period of de-escalation had ended and warned that Saudi territory would remain vulnerable if attacks on Yemen continued.
Although the immediate trigger was an airport strike, the underlying disagreement concerns Iran’s ability to maintain direct air links with Houthi-controlled territory.
Yemen’s internationally recognized government has accused Tehran of using Mahan Air flights to expand its influence inside the country. Officials said the latest flight entered Yemeni airspace without authorization, prompting the decision to disable Sanaa’s runway before the aircraft arrived.
The Houthis reject that characterization, describing the flights as civilian operations and accusing Saudi Arabia of escalating the conflict by targeting infrastructure that serves millions of Yemenis.
Saudi Arabia itself had not publicly claimed responsibility for the airport strike as of publication, even as the Houthis directly blamed Riyadh for the operation.
The renewed hostilities coincide with heightened US-Iran tensions elsewhere in the region, increasing the possibility that separate crises begin reinforcing one another instead of remaining isolated. Gulf financial markets weakened on Tuesday as investors reacted to broader regional security concerns and rising oil prices.
