Coalition closes Seiyun Airport

SEIYUN, Dec. 11 (YPA) – The coalition countries spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, on Thursday, closed the last air gateway for residents of Yemen’s eastern governorates, a week after Abu Dhabi‑aligned factions imposed military control over the airport.

Local sources said air traffic at Seiyun Airport in Wadi Hadhramaut was halted, cancelling a Yemenia flight to Cairo scheduled for today.

The sources said the disrupted flight sparked confusion and controversy among passengers, most of whom were patients traveling to receive treatment in Cairo after the Civil Aviation Authority affiliated with the coalition in Aden issued a closure order.

They explained that the authority decided to close Seiyun Airport suddenly starting today, Thursday, until further notice, without stating the reasons behind the decision.

Meanwhile, informed sources reported that Saudi Arabia removed Seiyun Airport’s code from the Yemenia Airlines website and added it to Saudi Arabia’s airline network.

Seiyun is the third civilian airport to be taken out of service by coalition forces. Two previous facilities—Al Rayyan (2016) and Al Ghaydah (2017)—were shut down and subsequently converted into military installations for use by foreign troops.

By contrast, Aden Airport, which is controlled by UAE‑aligned factions, has become a station for the kidnapping and arrest of dozens of Yemeni passengers for regionalist reasons. The latest of these was Captain Pilot Mohammed Abbas Al-Mutawakkil, who was taken from a Yemeni Airways plane last October while traveling with members of his family to Cairo.

Thus, the coalition countries, have complicated the suffering of the Yemeni people from Saada to Mahra by closing airports, while a ban on Sanaa International Airport has remained in place since 2016— especially for patients heading to various countries for treatment, amid silence of the international community and its human rights and humanitarian institutions regarding these violations.

@E.Y.M