Houthi official threatens Saudi airports after Sanaa runway strike
A Houthi political bureau member told Al Jazeera the group could target Saudi airports after an attack on Sanaa International Airport.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
A senior Houthi official has threatened retaliation against Saudi Arabia after a strike hit Sanaa International Airport, raising the risk that Yemen’s war could return to open escalation. The warning matters beyond Yemen because the Houthis also control territory near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a key Red Sea shipping route.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political bureau, told Al Jazeera that the group viewed the Monday airport attack as a Saudi-linked assault and could respond by targeting Saudi airports. The Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah, blamed Saudi Arabia for the strike.
Yemen’s internationally recognized government has claimed responsibility. It said the operation was intended to stop an Iranian aircraft from landing in the Houthi-held capital.
Al-Bukhaiti said the attack gave Yemen the right to strike airports in Saudi Arabia and impose what he described as a siege in return. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the strike ended the period of de-escalation in the conflict, according to Al Jazeera.
The strike hit the runway at Sanaa International Airport as an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation from Tehran was approaching, Al Jazeera reported. The delegation had attended the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 at the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Al-Bukhaiti was among the passengers on the aircraft, which was diverted to Hodeidah, a Red Sea city also under Houthi control. He told Al Jazeera the airport attack would be met with punishment.
The Houthis later fired ballistic missiles toward Abha International Airport in southern Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted the missiles.
Airport dispute adds to Yemen tensions
The latest confrontation follows fighting earlier this month in Hodeidah between Houthi and government forces. Al Jazeera said the violence threatens a four-year stretch of relative calm that followed a temporary truce.
The current dispute grew after a July 3 Tehran-Sanaa flight, which the Houthis said Saudi warplanes had tried to block. Al Jazeera reported that it was the first publicly announced Iranian flight to land in Sanaa in more than a decade.
Yemen’s government has accused Iran of using flights into Yemen to move support to the Houthis. Yemen’s UN ambassador, Abdullah al-Saadi, told the United Nations Security Council on Monday that the aircraft bound for Sanaa was linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and carried personnel, expertise and military or dual-use equipment.
Al-Saadi also said the Yemeni government had offered to return the Houthi delegation from Tehran to Sanaa on a Yemeni airline.
Red Sea route in focus
Al-Bukhaiti told Al Jazeera that the Houthis could consider action involving the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, while saying they would seek to avoid harming countries not involved in hostilities against Yemen. The strait is the southern entrance to the Red Sea and a major route for global trade.
Any renewed disruption there would come alongside continued threats to shipping around the Strait of Hormuz linked to the US war with Iran, Al Jazeera reported.
The Houthis previously attacked vessels they said were connected to Israel or the United States after Israel’s war in Gaza began. According to Al Jazeera, those attacks disrupted Red Sea shipping, killed at least nine sailors, sank four ships and led to other vessels being seized.
The United States, Israel and the United Kingdom have carried out strikes in Yemen in attempts to stop Houthi attacks on shipping. Al Jazeera reported that those attacks have stopped since the October 2025 Gaza ceasefire agreement.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.