Houthis Threaten A Siege On Saudi Arabia: Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti Tells Al Jazeera That Attacking Sanaa’s Runway Gives Yemen The Right To Target Saudi Airports And Paralyse Regional Shipping
According to Al Jazeera, senior Houthi political bureau member Mohammed al-Bukhaiti has threatened to besiege Saudi Arabia and potentially close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait after an attack struck Sanaa International Airport’s runway on July 13 as an Iranian airliner carrying a Houthi delegation from Tehran was on approach.
The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for the strike, though Yemen’s internationally recognised government claimed responsibility, stating the flight was linked to Iran’s IRGC and carried military equipment. The delegation had been attending the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who died when the US-Israel war on Iran began on February 28.
Al-Bukhaiti told Al Jazeera that the Houthis would respond in kind. “Their willingness to attack Sanaa Airport gives Yemen the right to strike their airports and to impose on them a siege,” he said. The Houthis subsequently fired a ballistic missile salvo at Abha International Airport in southern Saudi Arabia which the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted successfully.
Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree declared the attack officially ended Yemen’s “de-escalation phase,” and al-Bukhaiti warned that closing the Bab al-Mandeb is a “strategic asset” Yemen will use against nations it considers hostile.
Two critical maritime chokepoints; Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb; are now simultaneously threatened. Combined, they control passage for roughly 30% of the world’s seaborne oil. The Houthis have done this before and tanked global shipping. This time, they’re doing it alongside an active US-Iran war. The timing is not a coincidence.
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