At least 4 killed as Houthis launch missiles at presidential palace in Yemen’s Aden

Yemen’s Houthis on Thursday attacked a military headquarters at the presidential palace in Aden, which also serves as the seat of the internationally recognized government, killing at least four as fighting within the country and rebel attacks on Saudi Arabia continued to escalate.

The pro-Iranian fighters targeted “the headquarters of military operations, led by Saudi officers, at the Al-Maashiq Palace in Aden, as well as weapons depots belonging to them,” according to the rebel group’s news agency.

At least four people were killed and 10 more wounded in the Houthi missile attack, three government military sources told AFP.

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At least six explosions struck near the palace, witnesses said.

The explosions caused panic among residents who fled the area. A security official said at least two of the explosions were on top of the hill near the Maashiq palace, and two others were heard near the security gate.

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Many of the government leadership are living in exile, and those in Aden were safe, a government official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Separately, the forces of Yemen’s internationally recognized government said that the Houthis had fired ballistic missiles at the central city of Marib, which sits in a strategic oil-rich region.

“Houthi terrorist militias fired several ballistic missiles at the densely populated city of Marib,” the government forces said on X.

Separately, the Saudi -led coalition fighting the Iranian-backed rebels said Thursday it thwarted a missile attack on Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Medina as well as another attack in the eastern part of the kingdom.

The Saudi-led coalition said in a statement that it intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile over the province of Medina, but notably did not assign blame for the attack.

Shortly after the coalition’s statement, the Houthi military spokesperson said Saudi airspace and airports were unsafe, renewing a warning to airlines while excluding airspace over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

The international airport in the capital, Riyadh, has suspended service because of Houthi attacks.

Earlier Thursday, Saudi Arabia also said it destroyed a drone over the country’s Eastern province, a major oil-producing region.

The latest conflict between the Saudis and the Houthis began last month after the rebels seized key areas along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a critical waterway for Gulf oil shipments. The Saudi-led coalition, backing forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, has been trying to retake those areas.

The Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles and drones at key Saudi sites for a week, in response to the kingdom’s backing of government forces in Yemen’s renewed civil war.

Saudi coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said at a press conference on Thursday that the Houthis had launched 20 attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month, killing 17 people and wounding 333 others. The airport, one of Saudi Arabia’s main international aviation hubs, was among the civilian infrastructure targeted in what the coalition described as a series of attacks.

The coalition also said Houthi attacks on Abha airport, in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border, had killed three people and wounded 28.

Maliki said the Houthis had acquired advanced military technology with the help of “regional actors,” including ballistic missiles, drones and explosive-laden fast boats.

The spokesperson also said the coalition had destroyed 127 weapons storage facilities and launch platforms in Yemen’s mountainous areas.

He called on the Houthis to immediately halt operations targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and said the group should read the coalition’s statement carefully and “between the lines.”

Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the following year. The UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major fighting, and a de facto truce held even after it expired six months later. But efforts to turn it into a lasting political settlement have stalled as regional tensions have intensified.

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