Houthis Strike Yemen’s Presidential Palace in Aden With Missiles and Drones, Killing 5
Missiles and drones hit Al-Maashiq Palace, the seat of Yemen's internationally recognized government, in the first direct strike on the compound of the current conflict. Five people died and 16 were injured; the prime minister and cabinet were unharmed.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired missiles and drones at the presidential palace in Aden on Thursday, killing five people and injuring 16 in the first direct attack on the seat of the country’s internationally recognized government in the current conflict.
The strike hit Al-Maashiq Palace, which has served as the headquarters of Yemen’s Saudi-backed government since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. Two members of Prime Minister Shaya Al-Zindani’s security detail were among the dead, along with guards and civilian employees, Health Minister Qasim Mohammed Buhaibeh said. The prime minister and members of the cabinet were unharmed, according to Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani.
Houthis claim they targeted a Saudi operations center
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the attack targeted what he described as a Saudi military operations headquarters inside the palace compound, part of what he called the group’s declared policy of striking Saudi military deployments wherever they are located. Reuters reported it could not independently verify the claim; the Houthi-run SABA news agency said Saudi officers ran the site and that weapons depots were there.
Yemen’s cabinet said the attack involved both missiles and drones and that it would not disrupt government operations or the campaign against the Houthis.
Wider campaign against Saudi targets
The strike landed less than an hour after the Houthis renewed warnings that Saudi airspace and airports were unsafe, according to CNN, and the group said Saudi Arabia had carried out 65 airstrikes and missile attacks across Yemen in the previous 24 hours. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed multiple aerial threats over the kingdom on Thursday, including a drone over Khamis Mushait, a cruise missile over the Medina region and another drone in the Eastern Province.
The coalition’s spokesman, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, said the Houthis had launched 20 attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month, killing 17 people and wounding 333, and that attacks on Abha airport in the southwest had killed three and wounded 28. The airport campaign followed the deadly Houthi strike on Riyadh’s airport that drew a warning from President Donald Trump earlier this week.
The fighting has resumed in force after the government’s “Yemen’s Dawn” operation launched earlier this month. Reuters reported that government forces last week recaptured ground near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow passage at the mouth of the Red Sea that carries a large share of global shipping.
Trump earlier this week accused the Houthis of trying to drive up oil prices and suggested Iran was encouraging the latest attacks. “The Houthis are behaving very badly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They’ve been silent for a long time, but now they’ve emerged again, probably at the behest of Iran … hitting Saudi Arabia, and purposefully trying to drive up Oil Prices, probably prior to the US elections.”
Reporting based on coverage by CNN and Reuters.
