Ansarullah Official Says Return of Yemeni Patients to Sana’a Is a Humanitarian Right, Rejects Saudi Sovereignty Claims
Mohammed Al-Farah, member of Ansarullah’s Political Bureau, has denounced statements by the Saudi regime considering the return of Yemeni patients, wounded individuals, and stranded citizens to the capital, Sana’a, as a violation of sovereignty, saying the claims expose a “blatant contradiction” and lack both legal and humanitarian basis.
In a statement posted on X on Sunday, Al-Farah said the patients, wounded, and stranded Yemenis had finally returned to their homeland and city after years of suffering and displacement abroad.
He questioned how the return of citizens to their homes and families could be portrayed as a breach of sovereignty while those who launched the war against Yemen and targeted its people and territory now claim to be defending sovereignty.
He noted that many of the returnees had spent 11 years outside the country, deprived of their natural right to return because of the war and blockade. Their arrival in Sana’a, he said, represents a fundamental humanitarian and legal right that should not be politicized or used to justify positions that contradict basic humanitarian principles.
Al-Farah added that the Saudi regime’s references to sovereignty ignore years of aggression against Yemen, including hundreds of thousands of airstrikes targeting cities, infrastructure, and civilian facilities, as well as a blockade that has compounded the suffering of Yemenis across the country.
He argued that those who violated Yemen’s sovereignty were those who launched the war, imposed the blockade, and displaced Yemenis inside and outside the country—not citizens returning home after years of forced exile. He stressed that the return of patients, the wounded, and stranded Yemenis is an inalienable right that cannot be denied or questioned under any pretext.
Al-Farah reaffirmed that the Yemeni people will continue to defend their national and humanitarian rights, foremost among them the right to freedom of movement and return to their homeland, rejecting attempts to justify the aggression by portraying it as a defense of sovereignty.
The status of Sana’a International Airport has remained one of the most contentious humanitarian issues. Years of restrictions on civilian flights under the Saudi-led blockade left thousands of Yemenis—including patients in need of urgent medical treatment, wounded individuals, students, and others stranded abroad—unable to return home.
Authorities in Sana’a have consistently argued that reopening the airport and guaranteeing citizens’ right to travel and return are humanitarian obligations under international law, while accusing the Saudi regime of using the blockade as a tool of pressure against the Yemeni population.