Al-Alimi

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Al Jazeera - Riyadh:

The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, directed that priority be given to protecting civilians' lives and safeguarding public property, and not to expand the scope of confrontation to achieve the goal sought by Iran of dragging Yemen and its people into wars that serve its interests and using Yemen, land and people, as a card in its regional conflict.

In a supplementary statement, Al-Alimi affirmed that the state will not allow any aircraft to violate Yemeni airspace in the future, whether at Sana'a Airport or any other airport, and will deter any attempt to impose a fait accompli that infringes on its sovereignty or detracts from its authority over its land, airspace, and all ports.

He said: This decision was not a retreat from the state's duty to protect its sovereignty, nor was it leniency with any violation, but rather a sovereign, responsible decision taken from a position of strength and confidence in the capabilities of our armed forces, after the state proved its full readiness to defend its sovereignty, while being keen to spare our people any risks or repercussions that the militias were seeking to exploit politically and media-wise.

In the statement, Al-Alimi pointed out that the Yemeni government has been and remains the most keen on continuing the operation of Sana'a Airport in a legal and safe manner, as it put forward practical initiatives to operate civilian flights through Yemen Airways, the only legally authorized national carrier, and expressed its readiness to facilitate the transport of the militia delegation on a plane chartered by the company to the agreed destination, to preserve the interests of citizens and ensure the continued operation of the airport in accordance with the law.

However, the Houthi militias rejected all these initiatives and insisted on imposing a fait accompli that serves their agendas and exposes Yemen and its people to further risks. We reaffirm the government's continued seriousness in operating Sana'a Airport with commercial flights out of concern for alleviating the suffering of our people and lifting the siege imposed on them by the Houthi militias. It stated that direct responsibility for this escalation and its repercussions falls on the terrorist Houthi militias, which chose to reject all initiatives and deliberately violated state sovereignty and undermined peace opportunities, while the Iranian regime bears full responsibility for its continued support and empowerment of these practices that violate international law and Security Council resolutions.

Al-Alimi also directed the government, the armed forces, and security agencies to continue raising the highest levels of readiness and vigilance, and to take all political, diplomatic, and legal measures, as well as all legitimate procedures guaranteed by the constitution and international law, to ensure the protection of the sovereignty of the Republic of Yemen and its airspace and land, sea, and air ports, and to prevent the recurrence of such violations in the future at any of the country's ports or airports. He called on the Presidential Leadership Council to an emergency meeting to review recent developments, assess the situation at various levels, and adopt measures and procedures to enhance the readiness of state institutions, coordinate their efforts, and ensure full implementation of decisions and directives issued, in order to preserve the sovereignty of the Republic of Yemen, safeguard the interests of our people, and enable state institutions to carry out their national responsibilities at this delicate stage in our people's history.