Yemen’s Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, announced on Tuesday that its forces targeted a “sensitive site” at the Najran Airport in southern Saudi Arabia using a drone.
AFP reported that the airport’s main radar was hit and that services were suspended following the attack. Ansar Allah military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the attack came in response to the “Saudi enemy’s violation of Yemeni airspace over the Saada and Hajjah governorates with its drones.”
Saree added that the Yemeni Armed Forces “affirmed to the Saudi enemy that any violation of our airspace will not go unanswered and unpunished.”
Also on Tuesday, India reported that an Indian commercial vessel was struck by a projectile in waters near Yemen and that the ship sank, but the crew was able to safely evacuate. Ansar Allah has been targeting Saudi-linked shipping in the area as part of its new maritime blockade, but so far the group hasn’t taken credit for the attack.
Ansar Allah imposed the blockade on Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi airstrikes that targeted the Sanaa International Airport in Yemen, a US-backed attack that shattered a fragile ceasefire between the two sides that had held relatively well since 2022.
The two sides have traded several strikes since then, and Ansar Allah has targeted multiple ships, forcing other vessels to start the long journey around Africa to go to the Mediterranean Sea and enter the Red Sea through the Suez Canal. There are signs that the Saudis are planning a major escalation in Yemen, though Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Riyadh is also pursuing diplomacy to contain the conflict.
