Saudi halts flights at airports near Yemen after invasion of country

Saudi Arabia has brought to a halt flights at Saudi airports near the Yemeni border as Riyadh conducts airstrikes against Houthi fighters in its blatant invasion of Yemen.

“The General Authority of Civil Aviation of Saudi Arabia announced a temporary suspension of international and domestic flights to and from airports in the south of the kingdom," from early in the morning on Thursday, the Saudi civil aviation department said in a statement.

The statement added that flights have been stopped at seven airports, namely Jazan, Abha, Wadi al-Dawasir, Bisha, Sharurah, Najran, and Al-Baha "until further notice”.

The development came after warplanes of the Saudi Air Force bombed the positions of the Ansarullah fighters and launched attacks against the Sana'a airport and the Dulaimi airbase early on Thursday.

Despite Riyadh's claims that it is attacking Ansarullah positions, Saudi warplanes have flattened a number of homes near Sana’a international airport. Based on early reports, the Saudi airstrikes on Yemen have so far claimed the lives of 13 civilians with more deaths feared, Yemeni sources said.

"The operation is to defend the legitimate government," Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi envoy to the US, told reporters in a rare news conference at the Saudi embassy in Washington on Wednesday, referring to the administration of fugitive president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, whose whereabouts are unknown after reportedly fleeing the country earlier in the day.

Following the Saudi invasion, forces loyal to fugitive Yemeni president seized control of the international airport in the southern port city of Aden.

Troops of the 39th Armored Brigade, who are allied to the Houthi Ansarullah movement, had earlier seized the facility.

According to Yemeni TV, anti-aircraft guns fire at Saudi warplanes invading Sana’a 

Speaking to Press TV, a Middle East political commentator said Saudi Arabia’s strong opposition to a Yemen free from the Saudi hegemony explains why Riyadh has launched a military campaign against its conflict-ridden southern neighbor.

Ali Abbas al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for [Persian] Gulf Affairs, said early on Thursday that Saudi Arabia is making a huge miscalculation through waging a war against members of the Ansarullah movement in Yemen, as the fighters are now more trained and better equipped than the forces Saudi Arabia fought against back in 2009.

He also criticized Washington’s “naïve” policy vis-à-vis developments in Yemen, adding that the United States has surrendered its foreign policy on Yemen to Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf Arab states.

Ahmed said he expects Ansarullah fighters to march into the Saudi territory within the next few days, and wrest control over its southwestern Jizan region, which is located near the border with Yemen.

The blatant invasion of Yemen’s sovereignty by Saudi government comes against a backdrop of total silence on the part of international bodies, especially the United Nations. The world body has so far failed to show any reaction whatsoever to violation of the sovereignty of one of its members by Riyadh.

IA/SS

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