The Iran-backed Houthis have increasingly targeted the southern port city of Aden, the temporary capital of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, raising concerns that the escalation could undermine efforts to retake territory along the country’s western coast and break the group’s siege of Taiz.
On Friday, the Houthis targeted the Aden’s international airport and the Badr military barracks, which are responsible for securing the facility.
Two missiles landed inside the airport grounds without causing casualties, Aden’s security administration said. It warned that the attacks posed a serious threat given the presence of passengers and the continued operation of flights.
The airport strike came less than 24 hours after the Houthis, which are designated a terrorist organization by the United States, attacked the headquarters of Yemen’s government at the presidential palace in Maashiq, an area in Aden.
The ballistic missile and drone strikes killed five and wounded 16 civilians and security personnel, according to Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh.
The Maashiq Palace complex consists of several buildings on a hill overlooking the Arabian Sea. It houses the presidential residence, administrative buildings, and barracks and headquarters for the Presidential Protection Forces and the Homeland Shield Forces, which are tasked with securing the complex.
Prime Minister Shaya Mohsen al-Zindani and members of his Cabinet were at the palace when the attack occurred, according to Faisal al-Majidi, an undersecretary at the Ministry of Justice. Neither al-Zindani nor any member of his Cabinet were injured in the attack.
A Houthi spokesman said the area was struck because of the presence of Saudi military officers. Saudi forces are allied with Yemen’s government in the fight against the Houthis, which have responded by targeting infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, including its airports.
Al-Majidi told MBN that no Saudi forces were present in the area. He described the attack as an illegitimate strike against a non-military target.
Maj. Gen. Samir al-Sabri, Yemen’s assistant defense minister, told MBN that the Houthis were intensifying their attacks on Aden in an effort to disrupt the government’s work and divert attention from fighting along the western coast and the humanitarian crisis in Taiz on Yemen’s west coast. The area, which overlooks the Bab al-Mandab Strait, is under a Houthi-imposed siege.
The strike on the presidential palace was the first of its kind since the Yemeni government announced days earlier that it was launching an operation called “Dawn of Yemen,” aimed at retaking Sanaa, the Houthi-held capital.
Aden has served as the capital of the internationally recognized government of Yemen since 2015.
Government forces recaptured Houthi-controlled areas last week in Dhubab, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and in the Kahboub Mountains. They advanced to the outskirts of the coastal city of Mokha, while the Houthis tightened their siege of Taiz, leaving the city isolated from other areas controlled by the Yemeni government.
Yemeni political analyst Nashwan al-Othmani said the group was moving quickly to expand into the south and attack Aden ahead of efforts by the government and its coalition partners to retake Houthi-held territory.
In March 2015, the government of the late President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi was forced to leave Maashiq Palace after Houthi forces overran the city. Four months later, forces loyal to Hadi, alongside allied paramilitary Southern Resistance forces, retook Aden.
