Coalition jets wreck Sanaa runway as Tehran defies blockade

SANAA: Coalition warplanes destroyed the runway at Sanaa’s rebel-held airport Tuesday after an Iranian plane “defied” a blockade on Yemeni airspace, the spokesman for the Saudi-led alliance said on Tuesday.
Brig. Gen. Ahmad Al-Assiri said the pilot of the Iranian plane dismissed the coalition’s warnings not to fly in to Sanaa airport after entering through an unauthorized route.
“This forced air forces to destroy the runway at Sanaa airport to prevent him from landing” and forced him to turn back to Iran, he said.
Planes flying to the Yemeni capital must pass through Saudi Arabia’s Bisha Domestic Airport in the south which is assigned with the duty to “search any plane going to Sanaa,” said Assiri.
This showed that there was “something not right” about the Iranian plane, he said, adding that “these are irresponsible actions” carried out in “defiance of blockade measures.”
Assiri said that planes bringing aid from Doctors Without Borders, the International Migration Organization, and other humanitarian groups had landed in Sanaa.