The Yemeni government warns the United Nations: Iranian Houthi weapons threaten international flight paths

The Yemeni government warned the Security Council and the United Nations of serious threats to the safety of international civil aviation over the southern Red Sea, as a result of the Houthi militia’s use of Iranian-origin weapons launched from areas under its control in Hodeidah Governorate towards international air routes.

This came in a letter sent by the Permanent Representative of Yemen to the United Nations to the President of the Security Council, Jerome Bonafon, and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in which it called for urgent international action to confront the threat and implement the arms embargo imposed on the Houthis.

The government said that it documented the Houthis' use of Iranian-origin air defense weapons, which were modified inside Yemen with the participation of experts from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and converted into missiles capable of remaining in the air for up to 25 minutes.

She added that these weapons use thermal tracking systems for heat sources without distinguishing between targets, warning that launching them near international air routes poses a direct danger to civilian aircraft and their passengers, including United Nations and humanitarian flights.

The government confirmed that the threat goes beyond Yemen's borders, noting that the Houthis, after targeting commercial ships and threatening navigation in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and Bab al-Mandab, are developing capabilities that could threaten civil aviation over the strategic corridor itself.

It called on member states to fully implement the arms embargo and prevent the transfer of weapons, components, technology and military expertise to the Houthis. It also called for urgent coordination with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to assess the risks facing aircraft and air routes over the southern Red Sea.

It expressed its readiness to provide the Group of Experts on Yemen and the relevant international bodies with technical evidence, including data on launch sites and projectile trajectories, calling on the Security Council to circulate the message as an official document and to take action to prevent the spread of these capabilities and hold accountable the parties responsible for providing and developing them.