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

Houthi fighters fired missiles at the al-Maashiq presidential compound in Aden, Yemen, according to reports from Lankadeepa, Rupavahini News and Ada Derana. The government said five people were killed and 16 injured. Rupavahini News reported that the intended targets were military operations centres used by Yemeni government forces and the Saudi-led coalition.

Yemen’s Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh said the casualties included people on security duty and civilian employees, Rupavahini News reported. Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani was at the compound when it was hit but was not harmed. He condemned the attack and accused the Houthis of repeatedly targeting civilian sites and people. The government said the strike would not disrupt its military operations and that Aden would remain the country’s temporary capital.

The internationally recognised government said the Houthis fired two more missiles near Aden International Airport on Friday, one day after the palace attack, according to Newswire. Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said they came down near the runway, about 500 metres from a plane preparing to depart, and that passengers and crew were safe. The Houthis, in a statement carried by AFP, said they had attacked a Saudi forces command headquarters at Badr camp in Aden province and a weapons depot.

The attacks come amid renewed heavy fighting between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthis. Newswire reported that government forces said they had advanced in eastern Marib province with air support, captured key positions and neutralised more than 430 Houthi fighters in 24 hours; those figures are government claims. Forces also said they repelled Houthi attacks in Taiz and captured a Houthi-affiliated drone team. The report described Taiz as a major front and said Houthi forces had encircled the city in recent weeks.

Other headlines refer to explosions in Saudi Arabia, including an intercepted missile headed for Yanbu and attacks on Saudi infrastructure. The available reports provide little detail about those events, and the Daily Mirror separately said blasts were heard in Riyadh after a strike on a building in the area of Aramco’s operations centre.