Robert Pape warns Houthi talk of ‘airspace’ as a battlefield raises risk to civilian airliners

What was said

"We are now talking about, as the Houthies have just announced, airspace is a theater of operations. What that means, peers, is the risks that the next target is not going to be just an airline terminal, but an airliner itself is going up."

Political scientist Robert Pape says the region is in an escalating cycle in which multiple actors fear being struck first, making pre-emptive action seem rational. He adds that civilians are now “directly in the crosshairs”, and argues that Houthi claims that “airspace is a theatre of operations” could increase the risk that attacks move from infrastructure such as terminals to airliners themselves.