Houthi missile attack on Yemeni presidential palace kills two, minister says

What the report says

Yemen’s internationally recognised government says a Houthi ballistic missile attack on al-Maashiq Palace in Aden killed two security personnel and injured others, while Prime Minister Shaya Zindani and other ministers were unharmed. The BBC reported that five missiles struck the presidential palace in the southern port city, which serves as the government’s base, and that verified video showed smoke rising from the area.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani told the BBC the government leaders were safe. The Houthis, meanwhile, said their forces had hit what they described as a Saudi military operations headquarters in Aden. Zindani condemned the attack as cowardly and said his administration would continue its work and military operations against Houthi forces.

The strike comes amid a long-running civil war that has fractured Yemen since the Houthis ousted the government from Sanaa in 2014 and prompted a Saudi-led intervention in 2015. The BBC also noted that fighting has intensified in recent months across Yemen’s south-western Red Sea coast and near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a major global shipping route.

The wider conflict has included cross-border missile and drone attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia, which the kingdom and its allies say are backed by Iran. Those broader regional tensions help explain why attacks on Aden and other strategic sites carry significance beyond Yemen’s immediate front lines.