Aden (South24 Center)

Threats of renewed confrontation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi group escalated on Friday, July 3, after the Houthis said they had intercepted Saudi fighter jets that they claimed had attempted to prevent an Iranian civilian aircraft from landing at Sana'a International Airport.

The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen vowed a decisive response with “unprecedented force” against any attempt to target Saudi Arabia, its citizens or national capabilities, or to undermine Yemen’s sovereignty.

The warning came after a Houthi military statement claimed that Saudi fighter jets had entered Yemeni airspace in an attempt to prevent the Iranian aircraft from landing. The competing claims could not be independently verified.

In a statement, Saudi Ministry of Defense spokesperson Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said the Houthi statements against Saudi Arabia were an attempt to divert attention from the group’s violations against Yemenis, export the economic and living crises it has caused, and cover up what he described as growing tribal and social rejection of the group inside Yemen.

Al-Maliki added that the Houthi group had rejected the roadmap approved by the Yemeni government, despite initiatives and efforts presented by Saudi Arabia and its international partners to alleviate the suffering of Yemenis and advance the political process. Instead, he said, the group had turned to attacking maritime shipping lanes and global trade in the southern Red Sea and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait.

He said this escalation had exposed the assets of the Yemeni people to targeting and destruction, including the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Isa, Sana'a International Airport, power stations and factories.

Although Saudi statements continue to use the institutional language of the “Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen,” the coalition no longer resembles the broad military alliance that launched the 2015 intervention. The United Arab Emirates, once Riyadh’s most important military partner in Yemen, ended its broader military presence in 2019 and later announced the withdrawal of its remaining counterterrorism units in late 2025, following Saudi strikes on what Riyadh described as Emirati-linked military equipment at Mukalla port. This has left Saudi Arabia effectively alone within the coalition framework, even as Riyadh continues to issue warnings and military statements under the coalition’s formal umbrella.

The Houthi group, meanwhile, said in a military statement that formations of Saudi warplanes violated Yemeni airspace on Friday morning to prevent an Iranian civilian aircraft from landing at Sana'a airport. According to the Houthis, the aircraft was carrying more than 200 stranded Yemenis, wounded people and patients.

The group said it intercepted the Saudi aircraft with air-defense missiles and forced them to leave the airspace. It also threatened to target vital Saudi airports and interests on land and at sea if what it described as attempts to violate Yemeni airspace or target Yemen were repeated.

The Houthis called on their supporters to continue “general mobilization and combat readiness,” saying their forces were prepared to implement any options taken by the group’s leader, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, to end what the group describes as the “Saudi-American blockade” on Yemen.

The group praised Iran’s role in operating the flight to Sana'a, saying the aircraft had transported patients, stranded individuals and an official delegation that took part in the funeral ceremonies of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

It added that flights between Sana'a and Tehran airports would continue “regardless of the results and consequences.”

The crisis brings Sana'a International Airport back to the forefront of one of the most sensitive files in the Yemeni war. Since the UN-mediated truce in April 2022, flights from the Houthi-controlled capital have remained limited and politically contested. Since then, flights from Sana'a have largely been limited to weekly flights to Jordan, before later arrangements allowed the resumption of flights to Cairo.

The new crisis comes months after Sana'a International Airport was hit by Israeli airstrikes in May 2025, causing extensive damage to the facility and leading to the suspension of flights to and from the airport. The May 6 strikes targeted three civilian aircraft, the departure hall, the airport runway and a military base under Houthi control, before flights partially resumed more than a week later.

Later, the airport was hit by another Israeli strike on May 28, which was said to have destroyed the last Yemenia Airways aircraft still operating at the airport.

In Riyadh, the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council held what was described as an extraordinary meeting to discuss the repercussions of operating the Iranian flight to the Houthi-controlled Sana'a airport.

The council described the flight as a “flagrant violation” of Yemen’s sovereignty and UN Security Council resolutions, holding the Houthi group and Iran responsible for the escalation and the threats it could pose to regional and international security.

The council called on the United Nations and the Security Council to take deterrent measures against this escalation, while praising Saudi Arabia’s role in supporting peace efforts in Yemen.

The escalation also coincided with a striking diplomatic paradox. Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed bin Abdulkarim El-Khereiji took part in the memorial ceremony for the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, representing Saudi Arabia, and conveyed the condolences of King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Saudi Arabia and Iran restored diplomatic relations in March 2023 under a China-brokered agreement after years of rupture. However, Yemen has remained one of the most sensitive files testing this rapprochement.