Houthi missiles hit Aden palace, kill five and wound 16

Houthi forces fired missiles at the presidential palace in Aden on Thursday, killing five people and wounding 16, Yemen’s health minister said, in a strike on the seat of the country’s internationally recognized government.

The attack widens a Saudi-Houthi confrontation that has so far centred on Saudi airports. The Saudi-led coalition says Houthi strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month have killed 17 people and wounded 333, according to ABC News.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said on social media that the Houthis fired five missiles at the al-Maashiq palace, Al Jazeera reported. He said the prime minister and cabinet members were safe. The government said two of the prime minister’s bodyguards were among the dead.

The Houthis gave a different account of the target. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group bombed “the Saudi military operations headquarters in Aden” as part of a policy of targeting Saudi reinforcements wherever they are located, ABC News reported. The Houthi-run SABA news agency said the site was run by Saudi officers and held weapons depots. Reuters could not independently verify those claims, ABC said.

Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from the Houthi-held capital Sanaa, called the strikes on the government’s headquarters “first of their kind” for the group. “This is an indication that the escalation is going to intensify between both sides,” he said, adding that fears are growing inside Yemen of “an all-out civil war” that could draw in other regional powers.

The war began in 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa. A Saudi-led intervention followed in 2015, and a truce in 2022 held until this year, according to ABC. Fighting resumed last month, and government forces launched a campaign last week to retake Houthi-held ground, including areas near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Aden’s international airport was also hit by ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones earlier this month.

Coalition spokesperson Maj.-Gen. Turki al-Maliki told a news conference in Riyadh that King Khalid International Airport has faced at least 20 Houthi attacks in 11 days, Al Jazeera reported. He said the coalition has destroyed 127 weapons storage sites and launch platforms in Yemen. Iran has reportedly given the Houthis weapons, money and training, ABC reported. Tehran officially denies arming the group.

Fighting has also intensified around Taiz, which the Houthis effectively besiege. Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health has warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” there, Al Jazeera reported. Canada News Media reported on Oct. 13 that cholera cases in Yemen had tripled in three weeks, according to the World Health Organization.

For Canadians, the nearest risk is travel through the Gulf. Canada’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Jean-Philippe Linteau, said the embassy in Riyadh “remains open for Canadians who are in need of consular assistance,” as Canada News Media reported on Oct. 11. Prime Minister Mark Carney called the Houthi attacks on civilian infrastructure “abhorrent.” Riyadh is a major connecting point for flights between Canada and South Asia and the Gulf, so diaspora families are among those most likely to feel disruptions.

Iran offered on Oct. 12 to mediate between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, as Canada News Media reported. No talks have been announced. The casualty figures come from Yemeni officials and have not been independently verified. This story is developing.

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Via Al Jazeera and ABC News.