Middle East Monitoring Desk Islamabad
The Houthi militia after facing defeat on several fronts resorted to take innocent lives of the passengers and endangering civilian flights and airport staff in Yemeni and Saudi capitals. Houthis fired missiles and drones at Aden International Airport. The attack is the first on this airport in 5 years after first on 30 Dec 2024 when the officials of new government arrived in a flight.
Houthis fired two ballistic missiles and several drones at Aden airport, with the missiles hitting close to the tarmac just minutes before a Yemenia Airways flight was due to land.
At Saudi side, three people have been killed in attacks on airports, the country’s civil aviation authorities said on Wednesday 07 Oct, as fighting intensified in Yemen. One person was killed and eight wounded in an attack on King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh, and two were killed and 28 wounded in an attack on facilities at Abha airport, it said in a statement.
The government of Yemen has strongly condemned the attack, which it said could have endangered dozens of passengers aboard incoming flights, as well as airport staff and travelers in the terminal awaiting the departure of a flight to Jeddah.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Yemen said in a statement the attack threatens regional and international aviation safety. The Ministry held the militia fully responsible for the attack and its consequences, affirming that targeting this civilian gateway, which serves Yemenis from all governorates, constitutes a dangerous escalation and a blatant violation of international humanitarian law and civil aviation protection norms, with no justification whatsoever.
The Ministry stressed that the attack reinforces the militia’s terrorist pattern, evident in the bombing of Aden Airport during the government’s arrival in December 2020, the attacks on Saudi airports, the obstruction of flights through Sana’a Airport, and the seizure of four Yemenia aircraft.
This record demonstrates the militia’s use of terrorizing civilians and exploiting their suffering as tools of political blackmail and disruption of state institutions, exposing the falsity of its claims regarding the interests of Yemenis.
The Ministry praised the actions taken by the competent authorities to secure the airport and protect passengers and air crews, affirming that targeting civilian institutions will not deter the state from protecting its citizens and facilities, ensuring the safety of air navigation, and safeguarding the right to safe travel.
The Ministry warned that the attack threatens the safety of regional and international civil aviation, calling on the UN Security Council and the international community to condemn it and take practical measures to prevent its recurrence and hold accountable all those who planned, ordered, or participated in its execution, in accordance with international law, ensuring that perpetrators do not escape justice.
It also called on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and relevant bodies to condemn the attack and strengthen airport and civil aviation protection measures.
The Ministry affirmed that ending the coup, restoring state institutions, and disarming the militia are essential conditions for protecting civilians and safeguarding the security of Yemen and its neighbors.
It called on the international community to support the Republic of Yemen in asserting its sovereignty over all national territory and upholding its sovereign right to ensure that weapons remain exclusively in the hands of legitimate state institutions—steps necessary to preserve Yemen’s unity, security, and stability, strengthen regional security, and protect regional and international air navigation.
On 30 March 2021, an investigation by a U.N. team of experts found Yemen’s Houthis were responsible for a Dec. 30, 2024 attack on Aden airport that killed at least 22 people as members of the country’s internationally recognized government arrived.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis vowed retaliation, saying the attacks “will not go unpunished”. In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the coalition said it had attacked more than 80 Houthi military sites across the governorates of Saada, Hodeidah, Jawf and Marib.
The Saudi airport attacks were among a series of strikes targeting aviation infrastructure on Wednesday.
The fighting in Yemen, a spillover from the wider US-Iran conflict, has revived a complex 12-year war in Yemen that led to one of the worst humanitarian crises globally and fragmented the Arab world’s most impoverished country.
The number of people displaced since the latest round of fighting began has risen to more than 200,000, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.
