Ankara / Anadolu

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the Houthi group's attack on Abha airport in southern Saudi Arabia with a ballistic missile and drones.

Sharif said in a post on his account on the American platform 'X' that 'Pakistan strongly condemns the brazen attacks that targeted our sister kingdom of Saudi Arabia last night.'

He added that these attacks represent a violation of Saudi Arabia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, stressing that they would undermine peace and stability in the region.

The Pakistani prime minister stressed that his country stands in full solidarity with Saudi Arabia, adding: 'Pakistan will continue to support all sincere efforts aimed at promoting peace, stability, security and mutual understanding throughout the region.'

These developments come amid a military escalation between the United States and Iran, following US attacks that targeted sites inside Iran, and Tehran responded with attacks it said targeted US military installations in the region, amid fears of an expansion of the confrontation regionally.

Earlier on Monday, the spokesman for the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen, Turki al-Maliki, announced that 'air defenses dealt with a threat from ballistic missiles launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards the southern region,' without providing further details.

This came hours after the Yemeni Defense Ministry announced targeting the runway of Sanaa International Airport to prevent an Iranian plane from landing, while the Houthi group considered this development as meaning 'the end of de-escalation' in the country that had been in place for years, vowing that the targeting 'will not pass without response and punishment.'

In the same context, the head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, affirmed in a statement published by the Yemeni news agency 'Saba' that his country 'will not allow the violation of its airspace or the imposition of a fait accompli at Sanaa airport or any other airport,' announcing his directives not to expand the confrontation, in order to avoid dragging Yemen into a regional conflict.

This is the first announced Iranian flight to arrive at Sanaa airport in about 10 years, according to Yemeni media.

Earlier, on July 3, 2026, the Yemeni authorities condemned Iran sending a plane belonging to 'Mahan Air' company to Sanaa, saying the purpose was to transport a Houthi delegation from Sanaa to Tehran.

Despite intermittent confrontations, Yemen has witnessed since April 2022 a state of truce in a war that began more than 11 years ago between the forces of the legitimate government and the Houthi group, which has controlled provinces and cities, including the capital Sanaa, since September 21, 2014.