Iran-aligned Houthi rebels carried out a deadly attack on Thursday against the al-Masik presidential palace in Aden, the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, killing five people, including two members of Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani’s bodyguard.
Yemen’s Health Ministry said the missile and drone attack also injured 16 people, but the Houthis claimed they were targeting a suspected Saudi military operations center on the compound.
Yemen’s Health Minister Qassim Mohammed Bouhaibe said the victims included security personnel and civilian staff working in the government complex, which is an important workplace for senior officials including the prime minister.
In a statement released by the government’s information ministry, officials said the prime minister and other government officials were safe after the attack.
The attack is one of the highest-profile attacks against the Yemeni government since Operation Yemen Dawn, the latest operation in the long-running war against the rebels, began earlier this month.
After the Houthis overran the official capital, Sanaa, in 2014, the internationally recognized government made Aden its de facto capital. Since then, Saudi Arabia has supported the government in its fight against the rebels to contain the conflict on its southern border.
The Houthis claimed Thursday’s attack was part of a declared strategy to target Saudi military deployments wherever they are located.
“The shelling of the enemy’s Saudi war operations headquarters in Aden falls within the framework of the declared equation that the Saudi military buildup targets wherever it is and considers any enemy Saudi military presence as a legitimate target for our forces,” the statement said.
The Yemeni government did not immediately provide additional details, including the type of missile used and the extent of damage within the palace grounds.
CNN International Diplomacy Editor Nick Robertson, who has visited the palace twice, most recently in 2019, said it is located on a fortified rock outcrop overlooking Aden and is accessed via a heavily guarded road.
Yemen’s cabinet said in a statement late Thursday that both missiles and drones were used in the attack, adding that it did not affect government operations or operations against the Houthis.
“Yemen’s future will not be held hostage by militias that take arms against their own people, target the security of neighboring countries, and resort to violence to compensate for the Yemeni people’s rejection of coup-led policies.”
The attack came less than an hour after Houthi forces reiterated that Saudi airspace and airports are unsafe and that they retain the ability to “respond in kind” to continued Saudi attacks on Yemen.
The Houthis announced Thursday that Saudi Arabia had carried out 65 airstrikes and missile attacks across Yemen in the past 24 hours, targeting Sanaa and several other provinces. Between September 3 and October 15, Saudi air and missile attacks killed 120 people and injured 307, the Ministry of Health said, claiming that women and children accounted for about 60% of the casualties. CNN cannot independently verify the numbers.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s military announced Thursday that it had killed a prominent Houthi commander known as Abu al-Fadl al-Hadrami, who was responsible for the group’s ballistic missile and drone operations and was one of the military’s most senior figures. The military has said al-Hadrami received specialized training in Iran, a claim CNN has not been able to independently verify.
Experts say the Saudi-led coalition’s targeting of Houthi military leaders in recent weeks has raised questions about whether the attack on the palace was intended to demonstrate the group’s ability to respond by attacking government officials despite increased military pressure.
The Saudi-led coalition said Thursday that recent Houthi attacks, including one targeting Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, demonstrate the growing threat the Iran-aligned group poses to Saudi Arabia, regional security and international shipping lanes.
Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said the rebels, with support from regional actors, had acquired “advanced technology” and had become “the first terrorist group to possess ballistic missiles, attack and suicide drones, and booby-trapped high-speed boats.”
The coalition also said it would continue military operations aimed at reducing the Houthis’ military capabilities and eliminating sources of support for the group’s war effort, in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have intensified in recent days. On Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed multiple air threats across the kingdom, including a drone over Khamis Mushait in southwest Saudi Arabia, a cruise missile over the Medina region in the west, and another drone in the Eastern Province.
The attacks have heightened concerns about energy supplies, commercial shipping and fuel prices, with the Houthis increasingly targeting Saudi airports, oil infrastructure and maritime traffic.
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump accused the Houthis of trying to jack up oil prices and suggested that Iran was encouraging the group’s recent attacks.
“What the Houthis are doing is very bad,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They have been silent for a long time, but they have re-emerged, probably on Iran’s orders, to attack Saudi Arabia and perhaps deliberately try to drive up oil prices before the US election.”
