Houthis strike Saudi Arabia, breaking a four-year truce
Yemen's Houthis fired missiles and drones at Abha airport in Saudi Arabia, breaking a four-year truce. The Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted the attack.
Yemen’s Houthis fired ballistic missiles and drones at Abha international airport in southern Saudi Arabia, breaking an informal truce that had held since 2022. The Riyadh-led military coalition says it intercepted the projectiles. It is the first attack claimed by the group against Saudi territory in more than four years.
What happened between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia?
The Houthi military spokesperson said they had struck Abha airport — a tourist city in the country’s south, near the Yemeni border — with missiles and unmanned aircraft. On the other side, the coalition says its air defences intercepted the missiles launched “toward the southern region.” The group says the action was retaliation for a strike it blames on Saudi Arabia against Sanaa airport, which is under Houthi control.
Why had the truce held since 2022?
Since March 2022 an informal halt to hostilities had held between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed movement, ending years of open war in Yemen. This attack breaks that fragile calm and revives fears of a fresh escalation, at the very moment the Middle East is already ablaze with the renewed confrontation between the US and Iran.
For Europe, and for Portugal, the risk is not distant: any instability in the region tightens energy routes and moves the price of oil, the same one felt later at the fuel pumps. The wider Yemen peace process can be followed through the UN special envoy.
Image: The Shura Council / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
