Yemen’s internationally recognised government said it struck Sanaa airport on Monday, as the Houthis blamed the government’s Saudi backer for the attack, in the biggest escalation in years between authorities and the Iran-backed rebels.

The government said it wanted to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in the Yemeni capital, after it failed to convince the Houthi delegation that went to Tehran for the late supreme leader’s funeral to board a Yemenia flight instead.

“The terrorist Houthi militias — backed by the Iranian regime — prevented Yemeni national aircraft from landing at the airport in the capital, Sanaa, while insisting on allowing an Iranian plane to violate Yemeni territory; consequently, the airport runway was targeted,” the Yemeni defence ministry said.

The Houthi’s al-Masirah TV had previously reported that “Saudi aggression targeted the departure and landing runways at the Sanaa international airport”.

Tensions had been rising for days, as the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia earlier this month of attacking an Iranian plane that landed in Sanaa and took off carrying the delegation.

The rebels had threatened at the time to hit Saudi airports and vital assets should Riyadh violate its airspace or attempt to attack it again.

The latest escalation raised the spectre of renewed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia after years of relative calm.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of “ending the de-escalation phase and bearing full responsibility for the consequences of its aggression. We affirm that this aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished”.