The Houthis just threatened every plane flying over Saudi Arabia

Yemen's Houthis have just warned every international airline that Saudi Arabia's airspace is unsafe.

And they say it's about to become a war zone in the sky.

The warning went out a few hours ago. It came from the Houthi-run Humanitarian Operations Coordination Centre, and it was published through Saba, Yemen's Houthi-controlled news agency.

So what did they actually say?

They said Saudi airspace is unsafe because of what they call Saudi aggression against Yemen using aircraft. And they said something else, too. They said Yemen disclaims responsibility for anything that happens to planes after this statement.

Think about what that means. The Houthis are telling airlines: keep flying there, and whatever happens next is on you, not us.

So why now?

Because hours before this warning, Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces launched a major offensive against the Houthis. Rashad al-Alimi, who chairs Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, announced the operation on television. It later got a name on social media: Dawn of Yemen. He said the campaign is not aimed at civilians in Sanaa, Hodeidah or Saada, and he's offering an amnesty to any Houthi fighter who defects.

Turki al-Maliki leads communications for the Saudi-led coalition. He says 100 fighter jets took part in the operation at dawn today. That's a huge number for one single operation.

He also says the coalition has destroyed 324 high-value Houthi targets since the offensive started. And he says the coalition is now giving round-the-clock air support to Yemeni ground troops, protecting the skies over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and still hitting moving targets.

Yemeni government forces say they've seized the Dhubab district and key positions near that strait. Al Jazeera says it could not independently confirm those battlefield claims.

Now here's the twist. Why would the Houthis threaten commercial planes over this?

Because last month, they made their biggest land grab in years. They took Mokha and long stretches of the Red Sea coast looking over Bab al-Mandeb. That ended a calm that had lasted since a 2022 ceasefire.

This offensive is Saudi Arabia and Yemen's government trying to take that ground back. And 100 jets in the sky is their answer so far.

So the Houthis have hit back with a threat of their own. Not just the coast this time. The whole country's airspace.

And this isn't the first warning about flying over Saudi Arabia.

Five days ago, the EU Aviation Safety Agency told airlines to avoid part of Saudi Arabia's Jeddah Flight Information Region, at any altitude, until mid-November. It pointed to a sharp rise in Houthi attacks on Saudi ports, energy sites and aviation targets through September — including missiles that reached Riyadh for the first time.

But that bulletin came from a safety agency, flagging one flight corridor, before any of this started.

Today is different. Today it's the Houthis themselves, naming the skies over an entire country as a target.

Saudi Arabia and the coalition have said nothing in response to the warning.

So what don't we know? We don't know if any airline has actually changed its routes or stopped flying into Saudi Arabia because of this. We don't know if ICAO or any other aviation body has responded to today's statement specifically. And we don't know if the Houthis mean this as a threat right now, or only if Saudi strikes keep going.

What we do know is this. A war that was being fought over a port and a strip of coastline has just been pushed into the sky above an entire country.