Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked a Saudi position in the city of Aden on Wednesday, as smoke was seen rising near the airport. The attack is the third in a week on the city that serves as the base of the Riyadh-backed government.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement that the group’s forces had struck the Saudi enemy’s operations room at the Badr camp in Aden with a ballistic missile. A police official in Aden earlier told AFP that a blast had been “caused by a Houthi missile”, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Security sources point to coalition site near Aden airport
Two security sources in the city told AFP that the attack hit a location near the airport used by forces from the Saudi-led military coalition, which has been fighting the Houthis. Their accounts matched the police description of the incident.
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The Houthis later also targeted a military base at an airport in the southern city of Al Mukalla, two military officials told AFP. One of them, speaking anonymously, said missiles and drones were used against a base housing coalition troops at Al Rayyan airport. Saree said the group had aimed at military equipment that Saudi Arabia had flown in on cargo planes to the same airport.
Repeated strikes on Aden follow a wider escalation
Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s officially recognised government have faced sustained Houthi attacks, which have drawn attention to the wider Middle East conflict that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February. On Friday, two missiles landed inside the airport perimeter in Aden, and the Houthis claimed responsibility. A day earlier, a deadly missile strike hit the presidential palace in Aden, damaging command centres inside the Al-Maashiq presidential compound used by government forces and the coalition.
The latest violence traces back to July, when a fragile 2022 truce collapsed after the Houthis let an Iranian plane land in the capital Sanaa, defying Saudi control of Yemeni airspace. The group later declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began striking its ships, territory and oil facilities. It also seized government-held land along the Red Sea coast in a rapid campaign. The Saudi air force has regularly targeted the Houthis in support of the Yemeni government.
