Cairo – Sputnik. The director of Sana’a International Airport, Khaled Al-Shaif, stated during a protest and press conference at Sana’a Airport, on the occasion of International Civil Aviation Day, which falls on December 7 each year, that “the airport has remained completely closed despite its full technical readiness,” adding that “15 patients die daily due to the imposed restrictions.” He confirmed that “Sana’a Airport is completely ready and there is no technical justification for keeping it closed,” calling on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and international organizations to “act quickly to open the airport to all airlines without restrictions or conditions.” He considered that “the air blockade has exacerbated the health disaster in the country, increased the mortality rate, and led to a severe shortage of medicines by 60 percent,” stressing that “opening Sana’a Airport is an urgent humanitarian necessity to save what can be saved.” Meanwhile, Ali Taysir, head of the “National Human Rights Authority” in the “Ansar Allah” government, said the airport used to serve approximately 2.5 million passengers annually, in addition to 800,000 passengers via Hodeidah International Airport before it was targeted. The protest statement called on the United Nations, the Security Council, and the International Civil Aviation Organization to “urgently intervene to lift the blockade, issue a binding decision to rebuild Yemeni airports, and form an international team to investigate the deliberate targeting of civil aviation facilities.” On May 29, Yemen Airways, the national carrier of Yemen, announced the suspension of its commercial flights via Sana’a International Airport, limited to and from Jordan, after Israeli fighters bombed the airport’s facilities and destroyed the last civilian aircraft there, in response to “Ansar Allah” attacks on Israel following the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip. The “Ansar Allah” group has controlled most of the central and northern Yemeni provinces, including the capital, Sana’a, since September 2014, while an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched military operations on March 26, 2015, in support of the Yemeni army to regain those areas from the group. The ongoing war in Yemen, until late 2021, has claimed the lives of 377,000 people and caused cumulative economic losses estimated at 126 billion dollars, while 80 percent of the population, about 35 million people, are in need of humanitarian aid, according to United Nations reports.
