Yemen's Houthi rebels launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's Abha airport near the Yemeni border on July 13, 2026. The attacks came hours after Yemeni government forces carried out air strikes on the runway of Sanaa International Airport in the capital controlled by the Houthis [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
Saudi air defenses intercepted the Houthi missiles, and there were no reported casualties from the attack [1, 3, 4, 5]. The Houthis said the strikes on the Sanaa airport were "a blatant aggression" that ended a period of de-escalation. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said, "Saudi Arabia would bear the consequences and this attack would not go unanswered," warning airlines to avoid Saudi airspace until the blockade on Sanaa airport is lifted [2, 6, 5].
The Yemeni government, based in Aden and supported by Saudi Arabia and Gulf allies, carried out the air strikes to prevent the landing of an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation returning from the funeral of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The plane was diverted and eventually landed at Hodeidah airport, a Red Sea port city under Houthi control [1, 7, 8, 9, 6, 10, 5].
Vice-President Abdullah al-Alimi of the Yemeni government said, "Iranian flights to and from Yemen are an unacceptable violation of the country’s sovereignty" [8]. The government also accused the Houthis and Iran of violating Yemeni airspace and holding an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) plane and crew hostage at Sanaa airport [2, 6].
The UN Security Council held an emergency session on July 13 to express concern over the risk of escalation in the Yemen conflict following the recent attacks [5]. Yemen’s civil war has raged since 2014, causing over 150,000 deaths and pushing more than 22 million people into humanitarian need [1]. The Houthis control the north while the Yemeni government governs the south with Saudi-backed forces [1, 2, 8, 5].
The latest attacks followed a rapid sequence of events on July 13: Yemeni government air strikes on Sanaa airport runway, Houthi missile retaliations on Abha airport, diversion of the Iranian plane to Hodeidah, and a UN emergency council meeting to address conflict escalation risks [1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 6, 10, 4, 11, 5].
