Yemeni Pilgrims Fly to Saudi Arabia

A plane of Yemeni pilgrims traveled from Sanaa International Airport to Jeddah International Airport in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the first time since 2016, Al-Mayadeen reported on 17 June. A reported 275 Yemeni pilgrims traveled by plane to the kingdom to perform the Umrah religious pilgrimage in Mecca. Additional Yemenis will travel by air to the kingdom starting on 26 June to perform the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest site, the Kaaba. Muslims are required to perform it at least once if they have the means. Sanaa airport has been closed since 2016, when Saudi Arabia imposed a blockade on Yemen as part of its war against the Ansarallah resistance movement.

The air and sea blockade created a humanitarian crisis in Yemen that has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and was exacerbated by a Saudi bombing campaign, carried out with assistance from the US and UK militaries. Sanaa airport was reopened to commercial flights in May 2022, following the beginning of a truce between Ansarallah and the Saudi-led coalition. Erin Hutchinson, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Country Director in Yemen, explained at the time that the resumption of regular flights in and out of Sanaa would help save thousands of lives, prevent premature deaths, and support the country’s economy. It would also be quicker, easier, and cheaper to bring goods and aid into the country. The truce formally expired in October but continues to hold, and Ansarallah and Saudi officials are engaged in peace negotiations that have led to multiple prisoner exchanges in recent months. A new round of negotiations concluded in Amman, Jordan on 18 June.

The Minister of Transport in the Ansarallah-led Sanaa government, Abd al-Wahhab al-Durra, said that four additional flights have been scheduled from Sanaa to Jeddah, and that 15 other flights for pilgrims already in Saudi Arabia have been scheduled to allow them to return by air. Minister of Guidance and Hajj and Umrah Affairs in the Sanaa government, Najeeb Al-Aji, pointed out that since the war began, Yemeni pilgrims had been forced make the long journey to Saudi Arabia by land on damaged and unsafe roads. Minister Al-Aji expressed hope that the opening of Sanaa International Airport for pilgrims would lead to the opening of additional Yemeni airports, including for travelers, pilgrims, patients and others, to improve the humanitarian situation. The Minister of Public Works and Roads in the Sanaa government, Ghalib Mutlaq, explained that 200 flights would be needed to accommodate all of the roughly 24,000 Yemeni pilgrims wishing to travel to Saudi Arabia.