Iran-backed Houthis strike Yemen’s Aden: What that means 

The Iran-backed Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for Supporters of God), have fired missiles at the presidential palace in the southern Yemeni city of Aden, killing five people and wounding 16, on Thursday.

On Friday, two missiles landed on the grounds of Aden International Airport as a passenger plane prepared to take off for Cairo.

After the Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, the internationally recognised government of Yemen decamped to Aden with the backing of a Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries.

The latest attacks come as Yemen’s war, largely frozen under a 2022 truce, has reignited and become another front in the wider regional conflict involving Iran.

So what has happened in Aden, and why does it matter?

Here’s what you need to know:

What happened at Maashiq Palace?

The Houthis hit the Al-Maashiq Presidential Palace with five missiles, according to Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani.

Health Minister Qasem Buhaibeh said the dead and wounded included guards and civilian employees.

The government said Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani and other officials were safe, but two of his bodyguards had been killed.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had struck what he called the “Saudi military operations headquarters” in Aden.

What happened at the airport?

On Friday, two missiles landed on the airport’s grounds, according to the Aden Security Department, which blamed the Houthis. It said it was the second attack on the facility in less than a week.

Yemenia Flight 612 to Cairo was preparing for takeoff. Al-Eryani said the missiles landed about 500 metres (1,600ft) from the aircraft. No casualties were reported.

Al-Eryani called the strike “a direct threat to the lives of passengers and aviation crews”.

The Houthi-run Saba agency claimed the group was targeting a military headquarters and weapons depots inside Badr Camp, a military site next to the airport.

Aden is the interim capital of Yemen.

The government moved there after the Houthis took control of the capital, Sanaa, by force in 2014 and later imposed their own government.

The al-Maashiq Palace is the internationally recognised government’s headquarters and its seat of power.

The Houthis currently control much of the country’s north and west. Fighting between the Houthis and a Saudi coalition supporting the government had largely ended following a 2022 ceasefire.

But in September, the Houthis launched a lightning offensive along the Red Sea coast, seizing territory overlooking the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait at the entrance to the Red Sea. Nearly two weeks ago, government forces launched a counteroffensive dubbed “Operation Dawn of Yemen” with Saudi air support, but have so far failed to reverse those gains.

Saree said the Houthi attacks on Aden were part of the group’s declared policy of targeting “Saudi reinforcements wherever they were located”.

The city has been hit before.

In December 2020, an attack on Aden airport as a new cabinet arrived from Saudi Arabia killed at least 22 people.

A second attack hit the palace where ministers had been taken to safety. The coalition blamed the Houthis, who denied responsibility.

What reaction has there been?

On Thursday, Rayed Krimly, Saudi Arabia’s deputy minister for public diplomacy, blamed Iran for having “encouraged” the escalation.

He said the Iran-backed Houthis had rejected an offer to meet for talks in Oman when the latest round of hostilities began.

Tehran denied the claim on Friday. “The Islamic Republic of Iran rejects any claim that Iran has played a role in Yemeni (Houthi) operations,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said.

Baghaei said Iran “has always been ready to use its good offices to help end the hostilities”, offering again to mediate.

Canada’s embassy in Saudi Arabia condemned the palace attack and called for “an immediate de-escalation of hostilities”.

“We stand in solidarity with the internationally recognised Government of Yemen and the Yemeni people,” the Canadian embassy in Saudi Arabia said in a post on X.

On Thursday, the United Nations Security Council condemned escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, including those affecting civil aviation and energy infrastructure.

The governing council of the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization also condemned recent attacks on civilian airports and aircraft in Saudi Arabia.

On October 9, Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, told the UNSC the country had slid back into “full-scale war”.

What is happening in the wider conflict?

Fighting resumed in July, ending a 2022 truce.

Last month, the Houthis took control of the Bab al-Mandeb strait, one of the world’s most important waterways. Since the Strait of Hormuz was closed by Iran in March amid US strikes, Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on sending oil exports to the Red Sea via its East-West pipeline instead. The Houthis announced a blockade on Saudi ships there earlier in the year.

On October 4, Rashad al-Alimi, president of the Presidential Leadership Council, announced Operation Dawn of Yemen to retake Houthi-held territory, including Sanaa.

The Saudi-led coalition said 100 fighter jets took part, its first acknowledgement since 2022 that it had resumed air attacks on the Houthis.

The Houthis, in turn, have repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Saudi airports, oil facilities and other infrastructure.

On Friday, the coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile headed for Yanbu, a Red Sea oil hub which Saudi Arabia has been using to export crude.

On the ground, fighting has intensified in Taiz governorate, where the Houthis have been holding the city of Taiz under siege, and which borders the Red Sea. State-run Saba media outlet, citing the Taiz Axis military command, reported that 168 Houthi fighters had been killed and 210 wounded there.

In Houthi-held areas, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said 124 civilians had been killed and 327 wounded in what it called “Saudi aggression” since September 3.

Early on Saturday, Houthi-affiliated media reported attacks east of Saada, with the coalition saying it had destroyed two ballistic missile launchers there.