Yemen’s Defence Minister, Taher Al-Aqili, has said the country’s armed forces will respond to any violation of Yemeni airspace by Iran or the Iran-backed Houthi movement, according to a televised statement on Monday. Speaking in remarks reported by Al Arabiya, Al-Aqili said the Yemeni government had exhausted all political and diplomatic efforts before reaching its current position. Tensions between Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the Iran-backed Houthis have escalated since the funeral of Iran’s former Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. At the time, Yemeni authorities accused Iran of breaching the country’s air restrictions by landing a civilian aircraft at Sanaa International Airport. On Monday, Iranian state media reported that a second civilian aircraft had landed at Sanaa airport despite the restrictions imposed by the Yemeni government. Al-Aqili said the government had used “all available means” to persuade Iran and the Houthis to return to what he described as “the right path” and had sought to prevent violations of Yemen’s airspace and the country’s involvement in wider regional tensions. He said those efforts had failed. He warned that Yemen’s armed forces would respond appropriately to any further airspace violations and would not allow the country’s sovereignty to be undermined or its airspace to be used for any military operations. The Houthis have controlled the capital, Sanaa, and large parts of northern and western Yemen since 2014.
