First flight from Sanaa to Saudi Arabia in 7 years carries Yemeni pilgrims

By Mohammed Sameai

YEMEN (AA) - A plane left the Houthi-run Sanaa airport in Yemen on Saturday headed toward Saudi Arabia carrying Yemeni pilgrims, marking the first flight between the two countries in seven years.

A source at the airport told Anadolu that a flight from Yemen Airways took off for the coastal city of Jeddah.

"This is the first commercial flight from Sanaa airport to Saudi Arabia directly since its closure in 2016," said the source, who did not want to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said Thursday that it will facilitate the arrival of Yemeni pilgrims via the Sanaa airport.

The Hajj, the pilgrimage to Islam's holiest site, the Kaaba in Mecca, is one of the five pillars of Islam. Muslims are required to perform it at least once if they have the means.

Since 2016, the coalition imposed a blockade on the Sanaa airport as part of its campaign against the Houthi group. The airport, however, started to operate flights in 2022 toward the Jordanian capital of Amman.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. The situation escalated when a Saudi-led military coalition entered the war in 2015 to reverse Houthi military gains and reinstate the Yemeni government.

War-torn Yemen, however, is witnessing a state of deescalation after nine years of fighting amid efforts by the UN to settle the conflict.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar