Yemen's critically ill are trapped as war closes the country's airports

A renewed phase of Yemen's war has left chronically ill patients unable to leave the country for urgent treatment abroad. In Sanaa, the capital controlled by the Houthis, people who depend on specialist care say repeated airport closures have cut off their main route to hospitals outside Yemen. One patient described in the supplied material has spent years trying to secure a seat on a once-weekly flight to Amman, but has still been unable to travel.

The case centres on Rajaa Ghirsan, a 50-year-old seamstress from Sanaa who suffers from vocal cord paralysis and severe complications in her larynx. She can barely speak or breathe without a device fitted around her neck, and the device must be replaced every two months at a cost of $100 each time. She has already undergone six operations in Egypt and India since 2006, but now needs another complex procedure abroad to open her airway.

According to the supplied material, Ghirsan registered with the Higher Medical Committee in Sanaa, the body responsible for arranging treatment abroad. She then spent seven years trying to secure a place on the once-weekly flight to Amman used by Yemeni patients. Repeated closures and air attacks have kept that route out of reach, and she cannot afford the overland journey to Aden airport, which is her only alternative exit route.

The situation highlights how the conflict has turned access to healthcare into a logistical and financial barrier for some of Yemen's most vulnerable people. Sanaa International Airport is described as the main air link for millions living under Houthi control in the north, making its closure far more than a transport issue. For patients needing specialist surgery, the loss of regular flights can determine whether treatment is possible at all.

The airport has been repeatedly shut since the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis closed it to commercial traffic in August 2016. A United Nations-brokered truce allowed a limited number of flights to resume in May 2022, but the supplied material says Israeli air attacks in 2025 damaged the airport and destroyed aircraft. In July, Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia struck its only working runway to prevent an Iranian plane carrying a Houthi delegation from landing.

Those developments have left the capital without regular flights, according to the supplied material. That has widened the gap between patients who need specialist care and the limited routes still available to leave the country. It also shows how military action around transport infrastructure can have direct humanitarian consequences long after the immediate strikes or closures.

The human cost is described through Ghirsan's family, who say the strain has lasted for years. Her daughter, Nouran al-Salawi, has cared for her mother for a decade while also raising two children of her own. She said the device helps her mother breathe only a little and has worn her out for years, adding that Ghirsan is waiting either for the final operation or for death.

What remains unclear is when, or whether, regular flights from Sanaa will resume and whether patients like Ghirsan will be able to reach treatment abroad in time. The supplied material does not say whether any new arrangements are being made for medical evacuations through Aden or other routes. For now, the key issue is whether the airport closures and wider conflict will continue to block access to life-saving care for people in northern Yemen.

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