Al-Thawra Net
All flights to and from the war-torn Yemen have been canceled after the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition, which has been pounding the impoverished country for over two and a half years, announced the closure of all land, air and sea ports in Yemen.
Yemenia, the flag carrier airline of Yemen, announced the decision on Monday, saying the Saudi-led coalition had denied permission to fly out of the remaining two functional airports of the country, located in the cities of Aden, in the southwestern province of Aden and Say’un, in the central province of Hadhramaut.
Both cities are situated in areas that are under the control of coalition allies, which are also loyal to Yemen’s former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of the Riyadh regime. Yemen’s main international airport in capital Sana’a has also been shut down since August 2016 by order of the coalition.
The development came shortly after Saudi-led coalition announced that it had “decided to temporarily close all Yemeni air, sea and land ports.” Riyadh’s move came after Yemeni forces, backed by popular Houthi Ansarullah fighters, launched a missile, a Borkan H2 long-range missile, at King Khalid International Airport in northeastern Riyadh late on Saturday.
The Yemeni forces have launched a number of long-range missiles across the border in recent years. However, Saturday’s strike appeared to be the deepest yet within Saudi territory.
