The recent exchange of airstrikes between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels signals the end of their unofficial truce, but for now, a limited tit-for-tat cycle of attacks remains more likely than an immediate return to sustained cross-border conflict or full-scale civil war in Yemen. On July 13, the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen launched several missiles and drones toward the Abha International Airport in southern Saudi Arabia, hours after accusing Saudi forces of bombing the Sanaa International Airport. According to the Saudi-backed Yemeni Internationally Recognized Government (IRG), the Saudi strikes were conducted to prevent an Iranian aircraft carrying a Houthi delegation from landing at the Sanaa airport. Meanwhile, the Saudi-backed Yemeni Defense Ministry said its "patience has run out" and warned that further Iranian or Houthi violations of internationally recognized Yemeni airspace would trigger a kinetic response, pointing toward the Saudi-led coalition's decade-old air blockade against the Houthis. In...
