Aden airport targeted by Houthi missiles following presidential palace strike

Houthi fighters targeted the international airport in Aden with missiles late Friday, coming just a day after a fatal strike struck the city's presidential compound, officials said.

Aden serves as the headquarters for Yemen's internationally recognised leadership, which relocated there after the rebels took control of Sanaa in 2015. The latest strike marks the second time in under a week that the transport hub has come under fire, according to the local security department.

Yemeni Information Minister Moammar Eryani said a pair of missiles hit close to the tarmac, roughly 500 metres away from a commercial aircraft that was preparing for departure. The security department identified the plane as a Yemenia Airways flight headed for Cairo. Eryani confirmed that none of the civilians aboard were harmed, though he condemned the bombardment as a severe breach of international legal standards.

A statement from Houthi military sources presented a different objective, claiming the strike targeted a munitions depot alongside a headquarters used by Saudi military leadership located at the Badr base within Aden province.

The airport incident followed an assault on the Al Maashiq presidential palace that left five individuals dead. That incident represented the first time the compound had been hit since combat erupted again last month, ending a four-year pause in widespread hostilities. Despite the escalation, Marwan Ali Noman, an adviser to Foreign Minister Afrah Al Zouba, told The National that Aden would continue functioning as the administrative base for the government's military and political efforts.

Renewed clashes across Yemen have heightened concerns among humanitarian groups, who caution that conditions for civilians are deteriorating swiftly. The unrest has also become linked to broader Middle Eastern tensions that escalated following American and Israeli military operations against Iran earlier this year.

Elsewhere in the country, Yemeni state forces reported advances against the rebels in Marib province, situated north-east of the capital. Military representative Majed Al Nazili stated that ground units, aided by aerial cover, captured important positions in the eastern sector of the province. He reported that over 430 rebel combatants were neutralised within a 24-hour window, alongside the destruction or disablement of upwards of 100 military vehicles and assets.

Additionally, the Saudi-led military coalition made public aerial surveillance footage from Thursday showing air raids against what it described as a maritime weapons-trafficking network in the port city of Hodeidah. The video showed strikes targeting trucks, small watercraft, and suspected storage facilities along the Red Sea coast.