Saudi-led coalition warns Houthis after Iranian flight lands in Sanaa
The Saudi-led coalition said it would respond with “unprecedented determination and force” to any Houthi attempt to target the kingdom or violate Yemeni sovereignty, after an Iranian civilian aircraft landed in the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa. Coalition spokesperson Major-General Turki al-Maliki accused the group of trying to divert attention from its handling of areas it controls.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said his forces used air-defense missiles to stop Saudi warplanes from blocking the flight, which he described as carrying more than 200 patients and a Houthi delegation bound for the funeral of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. Yemen’s internationally recognized government condemned the flight as a sovereignty violation and called for UN intervention and tighter controls on the group’s supply networks.
The coalition warned that continued Houthi military action leaves Yemeni civilian infrastructure — ports, airports and power stations — exposed to strikes. The standoff comes as the broader region remains on edge after the recent Iran war, and it revives the risk of a return to open coalition-Houthi hostilities that a fragile truce had largely paused.