YEMEN’s Huthi rebels said today they have allowed the temporary resumption of UN flights into the capital’s Sanaa airport, a week after a halt due to Saudi-led coalition air strikes.

“The civil aviation authority announces the resumption of UN and other organisation flights into Sanaa airport on a temporary basis,” the rebel-run Al-Masirah television reported.

“The (rebel administration’s) foreign ministry was contacted to notify the UN and all international organisations that Sanaa airport was ready to receive flights.”

Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war between the government – supported by the Saudi-led coalition – and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels since 2014.

Flights into the rebel-held capital have been largely halted by a Saudi-led blockade since August 2016, but there have been exemptions for aid flights that are a key lifeline for the population.

The Huthi rebels said UN aid flights into Sanaa had been halted by Saudi-led air strikes last week but the coalition said the airport had already been closed two days earlier and blamed the rebels.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said on Sunday the Huthis were “militarising” Sanaa airport and using it as a “main centre for launching ballistic missiles and drones” towards the kingdom.

The Huthis today accused the coalition of preventing the entry of “communication and navigation devices… into Sanaa airport to replace the old ones”.

“The UN and international organisations have been informed that the long-term operation of these devices are not guaranteed, given how old they are,” they added. – AFP, December 28, 2021.