Sanaa: Jets from a Saudi-led alliance destroyed the runway of Yemen’s Sanaa airport on Tuesday (April 29) to prevent an Iranian plane from landing there, Saudi Arabia said. The footage broadcast by the Houthis’ al-Masirah television showed planes being hit on a runway, smoke rising from aircraft, and planes that were completely destroyed.
Aircrafts at Sanaa Airport being targeted in Air Strikes
Air force planes from the Saudi-led coalition bombed the runway of the country’s main airport to stop an Iranian flight landing, officials from both sides said, in a move that will further complicate humanitarian efforts to fly urgently needed aid into Yemen.
Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, told Reuters that the airport was bombed after an Iranian aircraft refused to coordinate with the coalition and the pilot ignored orders to turn back.
An official at the Yemeni civil aviation authority said the runway was targeted by 20 sorties that destroyed both the take-off and landing runways.
Yemeni Vice President Khaled Bahah had called on the Houthis on Monday (March 28) to heed a U.N. Security Council demand for an end to fighting, which the Red Cross says has pushed Yemen into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Houthis seized the capital Sanaa last September, demanding a more inclusive government and crackdown on graft. Talks with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi collapsed and he fled into exile.
Chaos set in as the Iran-allied Houthi forces swept southwards, fighting loyalist army units, regional tribes and al Qaeda militants.
Top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia, rattled by what it sees as expanding Iranian influence in the region, has been leading a Gulf Arab coalition in waging air strikes on Houthi targets since late March.
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