Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi threatened a major escalation against Saudi Arabia in a televised speech Thursday, warning of a “different war” if Riyadh continues what he called its “siege and aggression” against Yemen, according to Al Bawaba. He said Saudi oil facilities and other strategic infrastructure would become targets for missile and drone attacks if the confrontation continues, per Al Bawaba.
The speech follows the July 13 strike on Sanaa International Airport, which Yemen’s internationally recognized government said targeted the runway to stop an Iranian aircraft from landing with a Houthi delegation returning from the Feb. 28 funeral of Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, killed in the US-Israeli strikes that day, according to NBC News. The government’s limited military capacity means Saudi Arabia likely carried out the strike, per FDD, a Washington-based think tank, which said in its own analysis that the Houthis have been pushing the bounds of Saudi tolerance to redefine the relationship between the two.
Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree called the strike “an end to the de-escalation phase.” In contrast, spokesman Mohamed Abdel Salam called it a “grave breach” of the 2022 ceasefire, according to The National.
UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg, with mediators including Qatar and Oman, is working to contain the crisis, according to Al Bawaba, which noted the standoff still carries risks for Red Sea shipping.
