BSS :
The first commercial flight out of Yemen’s rebel-held capital in six years was indefinitely postponed on Sunday, after failing to obtain permits from the Saudi-led coalition, the national carrier said on Sunday.
Yemen’s government blamed the Iran-backed Huthi rebels for the postponement, claiming they had tried to “smuggle” members of Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah onto the flight, while authorities in Sanaa said it “violation” of a truce.
The capital’s airport was due to receive the commercial aircraft Sunday morning, reviving hopes that the war-torn country could resume some normal operations. A brutal seven-year conflict pitting Yemen’s Saudi-backed government against Shiite Huthi rebels has killed hundreds of thousands of people and pushed the country to the brink of famine.
The plane, operated by national carrier Yemenia, was due to takeoff from the government-controlled southern port city of Aden, stop off in Sanaa, and take passengers in need of medical treatment to Jordan’s capital Amman.
The flight was set up as part of a two-month truce that went into effect in early April. But hours before the flight, the airline said “it has not yet received operating permits”. It expressed “deep regret to the travellers for not being allowed to operate” the long-awaited flight.
Yemenia added that it hoped “all problems will be overcome in the near future”, without specifying a date.One passenger told AFP that he had received a call from the airline asking him not to go to the airport.
There was no immediate reaction from the military coalition that controls Yemen’s airspace.But Yemen’s Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said the Huthis wereresponsible for the flight being scrapped, Yemen’s official Saba news agency reported.
Eryani accused the Huthis of trying to take advantage of the flights to “smuggle” members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards onto the plane using “fake names and forged documents.”
While the government had approved 104 passengers, the Huthis “refused” and insisted on adding 60 more “passengers with unreliable passports”, he added.
The flight “faltered due to the Huthi terrorist militia’s non-compliance with the agreement stipulating the approval of passports issued by the legitimate government,” Eryani said. The Saudi-led coalition accuses Iran and Hezbollah of smuggling weapons to the rebels and sending operatives to Yemen to train them to use drones and ballistic missiles against the government and against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, another member of the coalition.
