Air navigation halted at Sanaa airport: Yemen rebels

By Murad el-Arifi

SANAA (AA) – Airline flights have been suspended at Sanaa airport, Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Tuesday, citing airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition.

In a statement, the Houthi-run Civil Aviation and Meteorology Authority (CAMA) said two raids had targeted the navigational guidance system at the airport.

The raids have brought air navigation to a halt, the statement said, adding that UN humanitarian flights would not be able to land at the airport.

The attacks are “a flagrant violation of international conventions and treaties and a blatant defiance to the UN and international community," read the statement.

The statement went on to call for an “immediate investigation…and allowing the resumption of all civilian flights to and from Sanaa Airport”.

For more than one year, the Saudi-led coalition has banned flights to and from the Houthi-run Sanaa airport, allowing only UN humanitarian flights to land the airport.

Impoverished Yemen has remained in a state of civil war since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including Sanaa.

The conflict escalated when Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign in 2015 aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and strengthening Yemen’s embattled government.