Houthis target Saudi airport after strikes on Sanaa

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia's Abha International Airport on July 13, hours after airstrikes on Sanaa airport.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the attack was carried out in response to the earlier strikes on Yemen's capital, Caliber.Az reports via Khaleej Times. 

"The Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a military operation targeting Abha International Airport, using a number of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles," Saree said in a video statement.

Saudi authorities said the kingdom's air defence systems had "dealt with" the Houthi missiles.

The internationally recognised Yemeni government claimed responsibility for the strikes on Sanaa airport, saying the operation was intended to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing. According to the government, the action came after a Houthi delegation returning from Tehran following the funeral of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei refused to board a flight operated by Yemenia, the country's national carrier.

Iran condemned the attack on Sanaa airport, with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson describing it "as a clear violation of international law".

Following the strikes, Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, said he had "ordered that the scope of the confrontation not be expanded".

In his statement, Saree warned airlines against flying through Saudi airspace "until the blockade on Sanaa International Airport is lifted".

Earlier on July 13, the Yemeni government accused the Houthis of preventing an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aircraft from departing Sanaa airport and holding its pilot and co-pilot "hostage".

However, ICRC Middle East spokesperson Hachem Osseiran said, "All ICRC staff and the crew of the plane are safe and accounted for."

The Houthis have been fighting Yemen's internationally recognised government since 2014. The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people, according to international estimates, and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The group controls the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen, while government forces hold large parts of the south.

By Sabina Mammadli