The Iran-backed Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for Supporters of God), have fired missiles at the presidential palace in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, killing five people and wounding 16, on Thursday. On Friday, two missiles landed on the grounds of Aden International Airport as a passenger plane prepared to take off for Cairo. After the Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, the internationally recognised government of Yemen decamped to Aden with the backing of a Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries.
The latest attacks come as Yemen’s war, largely frozen under a 2022 truce, has reignited and become another front in the wider regional conflict involving Iran. So what has happened in Aden, and why does it matter? The Houthis hit the Al-Maashiq Presidential Palace with five missiles, according to Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani.
Health Minister Qasem Buhaibeh said the dead and wounded included guards and civilian employees. The government said Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani and other officials were safe, but two of his bodyguards had been killed. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had struck what he called the “Saudi military operations headquarters” in Aden.
On Friday, two missiles landed on the airport’s grounds, according to the Aden Security Department, which blamed the Houthis. It said it was the second attack on the facility in less than a week. Yemenia Flight 612 to Cairo was preparing for takeoff.
Al-Eryani said the missiles landed about 500 metres (1,600ft) from the aircraft. No casualties were reported. Al-Eryani called the strike “a direct threat to the lives of passengers and aviation crews”.
The Houthi-run Saba agency claimed the group was targeting a military headquarters and weapons depots inside Badr Camp, a military site next to the airport. The government moved there after the Houthis took control of the capital, Sanaa, by force in 2014 and later imposed their own government. The al-Maashiq Palace is the internationally recognised government’s headquarters and its seat of power.
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