The Yemeni government's Ministry of Defense announced the targeting of the runway of Sana'a International Airport, which is under the control of the Houthis, through a direct military strike, stressing that this exceptional operation came to cut off the road and prevent the landing of an Iranian plane that tried to enter Yemeni airspace.
The Yemeni News Agency (Saba) quoted the ministry as saying that the armed forces carried out the missile strike after issuing advance and urgent warnings calling for the evacuation of the airport, and urged citizens and civilians not to approach its surroundings to ensure their safety.
Houthis vow to respond
The Houthi group (Ansarallah), which controls the capital, Sana'a, was quick to accuse Saudi Arabia of carrying out airstrikes targeting the vital facility.
The group's military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said the attack had officially ended the existing de-escalation phase, promising an imminent military response.
The government raises readiness
The Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, confirmed that the Houthi movement deliberately insisted on receiving a new Iranian flight outside the legal frameworks and international protocols regulating civil aviation traffic.
Al-Alimi issued decisive directives to the government, the armed forces and the security agencies to raise the level of combat readiness to the maximum level, and to take all security measures to ensure the protection of Yemen's national sovereignty and prevent the recurrence of such Iranian violations, calling on the international community to intervene immediately to implement the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, foremost of which are resolutions 2140 and 2216.
For his part, the Minister of Defense in the legitimate government, Lieutenant General Taher al-Aqili, stressed that the state will deal with the violations of Yemeni airspace by Iranian planes with all available military means, holding Tehran full legal and moral consequences for its continued interventions and fueling the conflict.
In an accelerated development, the Yemeni Cabinet held an extraordinary meeting in which it announced that it would enter a permanent and continuous session to follow up on the developments of the situation and the Houthi escalation.
In its final statement, the Council reiterated that the government will not allow any infringement or abandonment of the exclusive and sovereign right of the State to manage its airspace, ports and official institutions.
Meanwhile, news from the Iranian capital via the Fars news agency confirmed that the targeted Iranian plane was forced to change its destination and flight path completely towards Hodeidah airport in western Yemen, after it could not land at Sana'a airport due to damage to the runway.
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