In a row on June 17, 19 and 20, three flights carrying nearly 900 passengers took off from Yemen's Sana'a International Airport to Saudi Arabia. These are the first commercial flights between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, apart from several humanitarian aid flights, made in the past seven years to bring passengers, mainly Hajj pilgrims, to the holy Mecca of Muslims in Saudi Arabia.
The Middle Eastern country was plunged into conflict when the armed Houthi group took control of the capital Sana'a and several northern cities in 2014. The conflict has put the Arab world's poorest country into a serious humanitarian crisis.
In the context of the upcoming holy Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, thousands of Muslims from areas controlled by the Houthis have travelled by bus to Saudi Arabia or Aden City, controlled by the Yemeni government, to fly to a neighbouring country.
Najeeb Al-Aji, who is in charge of the Hajj and Umrah festivals of the Houthis, said the move was seen as a gesture of goodwill to enable airports to reopen and serve Yemeni passengers since 2016 when Sana'a International Airport was blocked by the Saudi-led Arab coalition against the Houthi armed group, that is taking control of the capital Sana'a. The Houthis announced that they need to organise 200 flights between Yemen and Saudi Arabia to serve 24,000 people in need.
Fighting in Yemen has decreased sharply after the UN-brokered ceasefire took effect in April 2022, and hostilities have been contained, even after the ceasefire expired in October 2022. The terms of the truce included the resumption of international flights from the capital Sana'a.
Over the past weekend, the Yemeni government and the Houthis held talks under the auspices of the United Nations, on the exchange of thousands of prisoners who are held by both sides, with the results evaluated as positive.
The United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, welcomed the outcome of the talks. According to him, the two sides agreed to maintain consultations on the discussed proposals and initiatives to reach a consensus on a detailed proposal including priorities and implementation mechanism. At the first round of talks in Switzerland in March, the two sides agreed to free 900 prisoners.
Over the past weekend, the Yemeni government and the Houthis held talks under the auspices of the United Nations, on the exchange of thousands of prisoners who are held by both sides, with the results evaluated as positive.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Rashad Al-Alimi called on the international community, to promote joint efforts to pressure the Houthis to stop attacking oil facilities.
Al-Alimi stated that the actions of the Houthis, such as attacking oil facilities and banning goods from being transported from government-controlled areas into Houthi-held areas, risk exacerbating the humanitarian crisis and preventing the government from paying salaries to employees of the public sector. The Yemeni government is considering the possibility of suspending commercial flights from Sana'a airport and restricting ships entering and leaving Hodeidah, if the Houthis continue to attack oil facilities and ban the transport of goods and gas from government-controlled areas.
The Yemeni government views the Houthis' actions as an economic war to extract government money, forcing the government to share oil revenues with them, as well as pay employees in areas controlled by the Houthis.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Yemen, Ahmed bin Ahmed Ghaleb, said that the Yemeni government lost 1 billion USD in revenue from the Houthis' ban on oil exports, and more than 2.8 billion USD in tax and customs revenue since the ceasefire order took effect in April 2022, as businesses abandoned government ports to use ports controlled by the Houthis.
The efforts by stakeholders and the international community have been proven by positive signals in Yemen. However, Special Envoy Hans Grundberg is still cautious that the road to lasting peace and stability in this Middle Eastern country is still long and arduous.
