Missiles Hit Aden Airport as Cairo-Bound Flight Prepared for Takeoff; Saudis Intercept Ballistic Missile Aimed at Yanbu

Two missiles struck Aden International Airport in southern Yemen on Friday as a Yemenia Airways flight bound for Cairo prepared for takeoff, while a Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile headed for the Saudi oil port of Yanbu.

The Aden Security Department said the two missiles landed on the airport grounds and blamed the Iran-aligned Houthi group for the attack. It was the second attack on the airport in less than a week. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility, according to Reuters. No casualties were reported.

The coalition said it had also destroyed two cruise missiles over the Red Sea and three drones in Saudi Arabia’s Southern and Riyadh regions. It did not identify who launched those attacks. Yanbu is a main outlet for Saudi oil exports, letting the kingdom ship crude to international markets via the Red Sea without passing through the Strait of Hormuz, where heightened tensions have raised concerns about the safety of shipping.

Oil prices climb as attacks widen

Brent crude briefly touched $110 a barrel on Friday for the first time since May, as worries over escalating Middle East tensions raised concerns about tighter global supplies. The Strait of Hormuz has been largely throttled by Iran since the United States and Israel launched attacks on the country in February.

Saudi Civil Defense authorities issued alerts in the Jazan region and the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait, where such warnings have become frequent since fighting resumed last month. Early on Saturday, authorities issued an alert for Abha in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border before sending an all-clear. Also early on Saturday, Houthi-affiliated media reported strikes east of Yemen’s northwestern city of Saada, and the coalition said it had destroyed two ballistic missile launchers in the area.

Fighting spreads as wider war continues

Yemen’s conflict has become another front in the wider regional war that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in February. Yemen’s war began in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and forced the internationally recognized government south. A Saudi-led intervention began the following year, leading to years of stalemate before a 2022 truce that held until this year.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia since the conflict reignited, targeting airports, oil facilities and other infrastructure. In recent days the group has also hit sites in government-held parts of Yemen, including Aden airport and the presidential palace in the interim capital.

A spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry said on Friday that 124 civilians had been killed and 327 wounded in what he described as “Saudi aggression” since the escalation began on September 3. Reuters said it could not independently verify those figures. Aid agencies have warned that conditions in Yemen are worsening rapidly as the fighting raises fears of a deeper humanitarian crisis.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and Devdiscourse.