After more than eight years of a Saudi-led war on Yemen, the first commercial flight carrying more than 270 Yemeni Hajj pilgrims has left the country’s capital, Sana’a, for Saudi Arabia.According to Khalid al-Shayyef, manager of the Yemeni airport, the flight operated by Yemenia, also known as Yemen Airways, departed from Sana’a International Airport at 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) and was bound for the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.

He informed The Associated Press that the flight was the first of five that will take this year’s Muslim pilgrims from Sana’a to Saudi Arabia for Hajj. Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim who can afford it and is physically capable of making the journey must make at least once in their lifetime.He stated that representatives from Yemen’s well-known Ansarullah opposition movement and Saudi authorities were working on booking two further flights, in addition to the trip on Saturday, two more have been arranged for Monday and Wednesday.Numerous Yemeni pilgrims use buses to Saudi Arabia or the southern port city of Aden, a difficult 12-hour journey due to checkpoints, where they can take a flight to the neighbouring nation.Akram Mohamed Murshid, one of the pilgrims boarding the aircraft, stated, “We can no longer bear the burdens and hardships of travelling to Aden.”I hope the roadblock breaks down and the airport stays open. I have no words to express how relieved and glad we are,” remarked Mohammad Askar, a fellow traveller.About 200 flights would be required, according to Ghaleb Mutlaq, Yemen’s Minister of Public Works and Roads, to transport the 24,000 travellers.According to Yemen’s Minister of Guidance, Hajj and Umrah Najeeb al-Aji, “We consider what is happening today as a good gesture, so that airports, especially Sana’a airport, will be opened to Yemeni travellers.”In March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a vicious campaign of aggression against Yemen with some of its allies’ support, including the United Arab Emirates.The goal of the conflict, which has received considerable political, logistical, and armed assistance from the US and other Western nations, is to reinstate Yemen’s former Riyadh- and Washington-friendly administration.Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the previous head of the Yemeni government, left his position as president in late 2014 and then fled to Riyadh because of a political dispute with Ansarullah. In the absence of a functioning government, the movement has been managing Yemen’s affairs.Tens of thousands of Yemenis have died as a result of the war, and Yemen as a whole is now experiencing the worst humanitarian crisis in history.