SANAA, April 24, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - The first commercial flight from Yemen's
rebel-held capital in six years had to be indefinitely postponed after
failing to obtain permits from the Saudi-led coalition, the national carrier
said Sunday.

   The capital's airport was due to receive the commercial aircraft Sunday
morning, reviving hopes that the war-torn country could resume some normal
operations.

   A brutal seven-year conflict pitting Yemen's Saudi-backed government
against Iran-backed Huthi rebels has killed hundreds of thousands and left
millions on the brink of famine.

   The plane operated by national carrier Yemenia was due to take passengers
in need of medical treatment from Sanaa to Jordan's capital Amman as part of
a two-month truce that went into effect in early April.

   But hours before the flight, the airline said on its Facebook page that
"it has not yet received operating permits," and expressed "deep regret to
the travellers for not being allowed to operate" the long-awaited flight.

   It added that it hopes "all problems will be overcome in the near future",
without specifying a date for the route to operate.

   One of the passengers told AFP that he had received a call from the
airline asking him not to go to the airport.

   A manager at the company told AFP that "the needed permission from the
coalition didn't arrive."

   There was no immediate reaction from the military coalition that controls
Yemen's airspace.

   The Huthis took over Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military
intervention to support the government the following year and igniting a war
that has caused what the United Nations terms the world's worst humanitarian
crisis.

   The airport in Huthi-controlled Sanaa has been closed to commercial
traffic since August 2016 when airstrikes disrupted service to the city.

   Aid flights continue to land in Sanaa, although service has periodically
halted.

   The pause of commercial flights has prevented "thousands of sick Yemeni
civilians from seeking urgent medical treatment outside the country,"
humanitarian groups CARE and the Norwegian Refugee Council said last August.

   They also cited "economic losses estimated to be in the billions."

   Daily flights out of government-controlled Aden (south) and Seiyun
(center) operate domestically and connect Yemen to other countries in the
region.