Yemen has faced civil war and proxy warfare from outside powers for more than a decade, since the Houthis seized the capital and forced the internationally recognised government to relocate to the south.

Years of fighting in Yemen after a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 against the Houthis triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Violence flared again late last year after a separatist movement backed by the United Arab Emirates swept through territory in the south, splintering the Saudi-led coalition created to fight the Houthis.

Still, a 2022 truce has largely held, despite regional escalation tied to the Israel-Gaza war that saw the Houthis fire on Red Sea shipping, as well as the Iran conflict.

ICRC PLANE HELD

Moammar bin Mutahar Al-Eryan, the information minister in the internationally recognised government, said the Houthis were detaining an aircraft belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross at Sanaa airport and holding its pilot and co-pilot.

Hachem Osseiran, ICRC spokesperson for the Middle East, told Reuters all ICRC staff and the crew of the plane were safe and accounted for, declining to comment further.

It was unclear whether the incidents involving the two planes were directly linked.

In recent days an ICRC-mediated prisoner exchange deal between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised government fell through, with both sides exchanging blame in a sign of growing tension.

Earlier on Monday, the government’s defence minister had said it had exhausted diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran and the Houthis to stop what he described as Iranian aircraft violating Yemeni airspace.

He said government forces would respond to any hostile aircraft violating Yemen’s airspace “by all available means”, and held Iran responsible.