Houthis Target Aden Airport to Offset Their Setbacks at Bab al-Mandab
Yemen’s Transport Ministry says one of two missiles fired by the Houthis landed near the airport runway just minutes before a flight from Cairo was due to land.
Yemen’s Transport Ministry said the Iran-aligned Houthis targeted Aden International Airport early on Wednesday with two ballistic missiles and several explosive-laden drones. The Saudi-led coalition also announced that it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis north of Riyadh. The attacks were an attempt to retaliate for their recent battlefield defeats.
The ministry said one of the two missiles landed “near the airport runway just minutes before the landing of a flight […] arriving from the Egyptian capital, Cairo”.
“The relevant authorities were forced to take urgent and decisive measures to protect lives, including cancelling the landing of the Yemenia aircraft arriving from Cairo and diverting it to Jeddah,” it added. The ministry also said two aircraft on the runway had been evacuated and moved away from the danger zone amid fears of another attack. The airport is the main international gateway to parts of Yemen outside Houthi control.
The Saudi-led coalition, which supports Yemen’s internationally recognised government, announced that it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis north of Riyadh. “We are tracking the launch platform through the coalition’s intelligence assets over Sanaa and will destroy it,” the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen said, without providing details of any casualties or damage.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree, meanwhile, said in a statement that the group had targeted King Khalid Airport in Riyadh with several drones. Saudi Arabia has not yet confirmed the attack on the airport.
The attacks came amid intensified fighting on several fronts in Yemen, following a counter-offensive by Saudi-backed government forces against the Houthis. The group had made advances along the country’s Red Sea coast over the preceding weeks.
With air support from the Saudi-led coalition, Yemeni government forces launched a rapid offensive this week to recapture areas along the Red Sea coast near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait and the city of Mokha. The operation forced the Houthis to withdraw from positions they had seized last month.
Government forces also took control of important positions in Taiz governorate, including the highest peak in Jabal Habashi district, as part of Operation “Dawn of Yemen”.
Earlier on Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s Al Ekhbariya channel reported that the coalition had announced the interception and destruction of a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis towards the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait.
In a separate statement, Saree said the Houthis had carried out “two military operations targeting Abha International Airport and Khamis Mushait Air Base with several ballistic missiles and drones”. It remains unclear whether these operations were linked to the missile the coalition said it intercepted near Khamis Mushait. Saudi authorities have not yet confirmed an attack on Abha Airport.
