Yemeni government forces in coalition with Saudi Arabia attacked Sanaa airport on July 13 with at least five airstrikes, three of which targeted the airport’s runway, according to Human Rights Watch’s analysis of satellite imagery. The attack was meant to prevent a flight operated by Mahan Air, a privately-owned Iranian airline, from landing at Houthi-controlled Sanaa airport, according to the Yemeni government.
Hours later, the Houthis attacked Abha International Airport in Saudi Arabia with dozens of ballistic missiles and drones. The attack was “in response to the Saudi attack against Sanaa airport,” according to the Houthi spokesperson.
Sanaa airport is the only airport providing international flights to and from Houthi-controlled territory, where the majority of Yemen’s population lives, and serves as a critical entry point for humanitarian personnel and aid.
The latest round of strikes is the first the Saudi-led coalition has carried out against the Houthis since the start of the United Nations-brokered truce in April 2022. Despite this four-year pause, the strikes are, in many ways, a repeat of attacks seen prior to the truce.
Between 2014 and 2022, the Houthis attacked airports in Saudi Arabia—attacks that Human Rights Watch found to likely be war crimes—and the Saudi-led coalition carried out attacks on critical civilian infrastructure throughout Yemen.
Throughout the nearly 12-year armed conflict in Yemen, warring parties, namely the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, have killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions living in Yemen. The majority of the population does not have adequate access to food. There has been almost no accountability or justice for the many war crimes and violations of the laws of armed conflict that warring parties committed during this time. Deliberate attacks on objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population are war crimes.
As the conflict now enters a new chapter, it is imperative that warring parties are held to account for their violations so that these cycles of civilian harm do not continue to repeat. The Houthis, the Yemeni government, and Saudi Arabia, as well as all other warring parties in the region, should ensure that civilian airports and other critical infrastructure remain protected and focus on ensuring that people’s basic needs are met.
