CAIRO (AP) — The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport on Monday in response to airstrikes they blamed on Saudi Arabia that struck Sanaa International Airport earlier in the day.
No casualties were reported, but the attacks marked an escalation not seen since a Saudi-led coalition struck Houthi-controlled areas several years ago. Saudi Arabian officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the airstrikes in Yemen.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, in a video statement on Telegram, warned airlines against flying through Saudi airspace, saying these warnings should be taken "seriously until the blockade on Sanaa International Airport is lifted.”
The internationally recognized government in Yemen said earlier that the strikes that hit Sanaa International Airport were meant to prevent an Iranian plane from landing.
The Houthis vowed to retaliate for the strike, which marked the first major escalation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia following a period of relative calm.
The U.N. Security Council, in an emergency meeting on the developments Monday afternoon, officials expressed concern about the risk of a wider escalation.
“Yemen and the wider region cannot afford another cycle of escalation,” U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs Khaled Khiari told the 15-member council. “We call on all actors to constructively engage in negotiations under UN auspices.”
For years, a Saudi-led coalition based in Yemen’s south has fought the Houthis in the north.
Saree said on Telegram earlier on Monday that Saudi Arabia launched the airstrikes in what he called the end of a period of “de-escalation.” He warned that “this aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished.”
In the latest Telegram update, Saree said the strikes in Sanaa were aimed at “closing it to humanitarian flights carrying patients and stranded individuals to and from Sana’a International Airport.”
Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition, including the United Arab Emirates, intervened the following year to try to restore the government to power. Tensions rose earlier this year between U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE as their yearslong partnership in the war in Yemen broke down, leading to the UAE pulling out of Yemen.
The official spokesperson of the Saudi-led Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said Monday evening on X that air defenses dealt with ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis toward the southern region without providing further details.
The attack on the airport in Sanaa comes after tensions between the two sides flared earlier this month. The Houthis alleged that Saudi planes violated their airspace to try to prevent an Iranian plane from carrying a Houthi delegation to Tehran for the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Yemen's defense minister, Gen. Taher al-Aqili, said in a post on X that the airport’s runway was struck Monday to stop an Iranian plane transporting the Houthi delegation from returning from the funeral.
In a video statement released shortly before the strikes, al-Aqili warned against infiltrating Yemeni airspace with Iranian aircraft.
“At this moment, we say that our patience has run out. Accordingly, we will respond appropriately to this treacherous and brutal act, and we will confront and deal with the hostile aircraft violating Yemeni airspace and sovereignty by all available means,” he said.
The Houthis said the plane was diverted to Hodeida Airport, where it landed.
Video footage by the Houthi-controlled al-Masirah broadcaster appeared to show a missile striking a runway at Sanaa airport followed by a loud explosion.
A statement from the government in the south said that all airports in Yemen were “closed until further notice, with immediate effect.” The Yemeni defense ministry issued orders to evacuate the airport and surrounding areas.
Rashad al-Alimi, who leads Yemen's ruling Presidential Leadership Council, said Iran had made a request to operate a flight by Iranian airline Mahan Air from Tehran to Sanaa to return the Houthi delegation.
The council, which denied the request, said in a statement Monday that Houthis had insisted on receiving the Iranian flight “outside the legal and sovereign frameworks governing civil aviation.”
Hans Grundberg, the U.N.'s special envoy for Yemen, said in a statement that his office is monitoring Yemeni airspace developments and expressed concern about the risk of wider escalation. He called on involved parties to engage in dialogue that preserves the “relative calm Yemen has experienced since 2022.”
Houthi-controlled areas were last targeted by the Saudi-led coalition before a U.N. brokered truce to cease hostilities came into effect in 2022.
This image taken from video broadcast by Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-controlled news channel, shows a projectile striking the Sanaa International Airport compound during what the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said were several Saudi airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Al-Masirah TV via AP)
This image taken from video broadcast by Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-controlled news channel, shows an explosion at the Sanaa International Airport compound during what the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said were several Saudi airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Al-Masirah TV via AP)
This image taken from video broadcast by Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-controlled news channel, shows an explosion at the Sanaa International Airport compound during what the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said were several Saudi airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, July 13, 2026. (Al-Masirah TV via AP)
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Lindsey Graham’s sister, Darline Graham Nordone, has been named as her late brother's temporary replacement in the U.S. Senate after his unexpected death over the weekend.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced at a news conference at the Statehouse on Monday that Nordone would serve the remaining months on Graham's current term, which expires in January. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said afterward that she will be sworn in Tuesday afternoon.
Nordone will be the first woman to represent the state in the Senate.
“It is such an honor,” she said, as dozens of Graham staffers and campaign advisers stood behind her, some with eyes glassy from welling tears. “Lindsey has always been there for me. And now, I will be there for him.”
Graham died on Saturday night at age 71. He never married or had a family of his own, but Nordone was often by her brother's side for the political touch points of his career, speaking at events and appearing in some of his campaign ads.
After their parents died at a young age, Graham was left to raise his sister, for whom he later became legal guardian. They were very close, and she was there as he filed reelection paperwork earlier this year, along with her children and grandchildren.
“To Lindsey, I miss you more than I can even put into words," Nordone said, emotion rising in her voice. "But I'm going to do this. I got it.”
Introducing Nordone, McMaster said the two had spoken in “in the wee hours of Sunday morning” after Graham's death, and he asked her to serve.
“I had wondered what you would say, and I was humbled by your quickness to see the duty that you had to serve,” McMaster said. He added that President Donald Trump “thought it was a great idea” when he later told him of his pick. Trump announced his support for Nardone to fill the seat earlier Monday.
Nordone has worked as an optician and at various state agencies, including the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and the Department of Employment and Workforce. She lives in Lexington, is a graduate of the College of Charleston and has a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling.
A special election will be held next month to pick a new Republican nominee in the general election for Graham’s seat. He had been seeking a fifth term this year.
The rare open Senate seat has ignited a scramble among South Carolina’s most ambitious conservatives, who have been eager to climb the political ladder.
Republicans just finished a sprawling and bruising contest to figure out their nominee for succeeding McMaster, who is wrapping up his second term. State Attorney General Alan Wilson won the nomination, overcoming a field that included Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, Rep. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman — all of whom are now eyeing Graham’s seat following his death over the weekend.
According to South Carolina law, a one-week filing period for a special primary election begins on the second Tuesday after the candidate’s death, or July 21.
The special primary election would be held on the second Tuesday after that filing period closes, or Aug. 11. Any necessary runoff would follow two weeks after that, or Aug. 25.
From that point, the new nominee would have just over two months to campaign for the general election on Nov. 3.
All of this is problematic according to federal law, which requires military and overseas ballots to go out 45 days before any federal election. For the special election primary, that would have been June 27. Federal Election Commission officials didn’t immediately return a message seeking clarity about the process.
Graham died on Saturday night, and a preliminary medical examiner report said he suffered a tear in his aorta, known as an aortic dissection.
In the hours after Graham's death was announced, South Carolina’s Republican circles were already swirling with rumors about possible replacements.
Evette, who has served nearly eight years alongside McMaster and received his endorsement in the governor's race, is one possibility. She lost the June 23 runoff to Wilson.
Mace and Norman could run in the special primary as well. Neither of them are running for reelection to their House seats.
But another Republican from the state, Rep. Russell Fry, could be a possibility. The two-term lawmaker represents the growing area around Myrtle Beach, and he's been a top Trump ally.
Businessman Mark Lynch, whom Graham defeated in the primary, may jump into the race. So could Mark Sanford, the state's former governor who served two separate stints in the House.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who lived in South Carolina before joining the Trump administration, has fielded calls about potentially replacing Graham but doesn’t have interest in the role and enjoys working for the president, according to a person who insisted on anonymity to describe private conversations.
No Democrat has won a Senate seat in South Carolina in decades, and Republicans in recent history typically take statewide seats by double digits. When Graham last ran in 2020, he defeated his Democratic opponent, Jaime Harrison, by a 10 percentage point margin.
So while history suggests that Graham was en route to a fifth term, Republicans are carefully surveying the landscape.
Charleston pediatrician Annie Andrews won the Democratic nomination last month and has raised more than $8 million in the race, and she had just under $3 million cash on hand at the end of May, according to federal filings. Graham had taken in $6 million, with just over $4 million on hand.
In a statement Sunday, Andrews called on South Carolinians to join her “in setting partisanship aside and offering gratitude" to Graham for his service.
Harrison, noting that he and Graham “had our share of political disagreements,” wrote on social media that he “always appreciated that even in our fiercest political battles, we could still share a conversation, a laugh, and a mutual respect for South Carolina and the institutions we were both privileged to serve.”
Associated Press writer Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.
Kinnard reported from Charleston, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster speaks to media to announce the appointment of Darline Graham Nordone to fill the vacancy created by the passing of her brother, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, at the statehouse Monday, July 13, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)
Newly appointed U.S. interim Senator, Darline Graham Nordone, with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, right, and Sen. Time Scott (R-SC), left, speaks to members of the press after being appointed of to fill the vacancy created by the passing of her brother, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, at the statehouse Monday, July 13, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)
Newly appointed U.S. interim Senator, Darline Graham Nordone, with South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, right, speaks to members of the press after being appointed of to fill the vacancy created by the passing of her brother, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, at the statehouse Monday, July 13, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)
FILE - Vice President Joe Biden, right, administers the Senate oath to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., left, as Graham's sister Darline Graham looks on during a ceremonial re-enactment swearing-in ceremony, Jan. 6, 2015, in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
FILE - Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., accompanied by his sister Darline, left, speaks at the GOP headquarters in Columbia, S.C., Sept. 1, 2015, where he filed for the South Carolina Presidential Primary. (AP Photo/Richard Shiro, File)
FILE - Darline Graham Nordone, sister of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., walks to the stage before his announcement for presidency on Monday, June 1, 2015, in Central, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt, File)
FILE - South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster speaks to reporters, May 5, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, File)
FILE - Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., takes the oath of office with Vice President Dick Cheney, right, during a re-enactment swearing-in ceremony in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 7, 2003, following his election to the Senate. (AP Photos/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks as Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., listen, at a primary election night party at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
