Yemen's Houthis allow temporary resumption of UN flights to Sanaa airport

The airport has been closed to civilian flights since 2015

Airport workers inspect damage to part of the Houthi-held Sanaa International Airport last week. AFP

Yemen's Houthi rebels allowed the temporary resumption of flights by the UN and other organisations to Sanaa International Airport on Monday, the movement's Saba news agency said.

The Iran-supported Houthis said earlier this month that the airport had been put out of operation after air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen.

The coalition said it attacked only military targets at the airport, from where drone strikes have been launched against Saudi targets.

Sanaa's airport has been closed to civilian flights since 2015, after the Houthis ousted the Saudi-backed government from the city, although UN planes have been permitted to land there.

The Houthis said on Monday they allowed the resumption of the UN flights "after malfunctions in communications and navigational devices were temporarily fixed," the agency report said.

They also urged the UN to help facilitate the arrival of air traffic control equipment from Djibouti.

The rebels said they could not guarantee their ability to maintain air traffic control equipment, and urged the UN to help enable the delivery of new devices that they had bought.

The coalition said that the strikes it had carried out would have no effect on operational capacity, airspace management, air traffic, or ground handling operations.

The war in Yemen broke out in 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa and forced the government into exile in Saudi Arabia. The coalition was formed to repel the Houthi offensive in March 2015.

UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, denounced the latest surge in fighting in Yemen, particularly the continued Houthi offensive on the government-held city of Marib.

“The escalation in recent weeks is among the worst we have seen in Yemen for years and the threat to civilian lives is increasing,” he said.

Mr Grundberg urged the warring sides to engage with UN efforts to reduce the violence, address urgent humanitarian needs and launch a political process to end the conflict.

Over the past years, the war has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than half of Yemen’s population of 16.2 million people faces acute hunger, with 2.3 million children at risk of malnutrition, the UN food agency estimates.