Five killed, 16 wounded as Houthis launch deadly attack on Yemen presidential palace

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - ADEN — Five people have been killed as Iran-aligned Houthi rebels carried out a deadly attack on the presidential Al-Maashiq Palace in the port city of Aden, which is the seat of the internationally recognized government.

The missile and drone attack also injured 16 people, according to Yemen’s Health Ministry, while the Houthis claimed they were targeting a military operations center inside the compound.

In a statement posted by the government’s Ministry of Information, officials said the prime minister and members of the government were safe following the attack.

Yemen’s Health Minister Qasim Mohammed Buhaibeh said the casualties included security personnel and civilian employees working at the government complex, which serves as a key workplace for senior officials including the prime minister.

Prime Minister Shaya Zindani condemned the Houthis' attack on Aden, calling it "cowardly" and a "continuation of their criminal behaviour".

He said the government continued to carry out its duties and vowed that it would not weaken the resolve of its forces to continue operations against the Houthis on Yemen's south-western Red Sea coast and other front lines.

The strike is one of the highest-profile attacks on the Yemeni government since its launch earlier this month of operation “Yemen’s Dawn” — the latest campaign in its long-running war against the rebels.

The internationally recognized government took Aden as its de facto capital after the Houthis seized the official capital, Sanaa, in 2014. Saudi Arabia has since backed the government in its fight against the rebels, in an effort to contain the conflict on its southern border.

The Yemeni government did not immediately provide additional details about the type of missiles used or the extent of the damage at the palace compound.

The palace complex sits on a fortified rocky outcrop overlooking Aden and is accessed via a heavily secured road.

In a statement issued later Thursday, Yemen’s Cabinet said the attack involved both missiles and drones, adding that it would not affect the government’s operations or its campaign against the Houthis.

“Yemen’s future will not be held hostage by a militia that bears arms against its own people, targets the security of its neighbors, and relies on violence to compensate for the Yemeni people’s rejection of its coup-driven agenda,” it said.

Meanwhile, Yemen’s military said Thursday that it had killed a prominent Houthi commander known as “Abu al-Fadl al-Hadrami,” describing him as the head of the group’s ballistic missile and drone operations and one of its most senior military figures. The military said Al-Hadrami had undergone specialized training in Iran.

The Saudi-led coalition said Thursday that recent Houthi attacks, including strikes targeting King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, demonstrate the growing threat posed by the group to Saudi Arabia, regional security and international shipping routes.

The coalition’s spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said the rebels have acquired “advanced technologies” with support from regional actors and become “the first terrorist group to possess ballistic missiles, offensive and suicide drones, and booby-trapped fast boats.”

The coalition also said military operations would continue with the aim of degrading Houthi military capabilities and removing sources of support for the group’s war effort in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have been escalating in recent days. On Thursday, the coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed multiple aerial threats across the Kingdom, including a drone over Khamis Mushait in southwestern Saudi Arabia, a cruise missile over the Madinah region in the west, and another drone in the Eastern Province.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump accused the Houthis of trying to drive up oil prices and suggested Iran was encouraging the group’s latest attacks.

“The Houthis are behaving very badly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They’ve been silent for a long time, but now they’ve emerged again, probably at the behest of Iran … hitting Saudi Arabia, and purposefully trying to drive up Oil Prices, probably prior to the US elections.”