Second missile strike hits Aden airport in less than a week

Two missiles struck Aden International Airport on Friday night in the second such attack on the facility in less than a week, Yemeni officials said, blaming the Iran-aligned Houthi group. No casualties were reported.

The Aden Security Department said both missiles landed on the airport grounds; police said it was the second attack in less than ten days, after an October 7 twin-missile strike with no casualties. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility, Reuters reported.

Yemenia flight IY 612, bound for Cairo, was preparing for takeoff when the missiles landed, the security department said. Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani said they landed 500 metres from the aircraft, 100 metres from the runway’s centre.

Houthi-run media gave a rival account: a rebel military official told the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency it had hit a military facility beside the airport housing a command centre for Saudi-led forces and a weapons depot.

The Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a ballistic missile headed for Yanbu, a Red Sea oil hub letting the kingdom bypass the Strait of Hormuz, plus two cruise missiles over the Red Sea and three drones over Saudi Arabia’s south and Riyadh, without identifying the attackers, Reuters reported.

The strike came a day after the UN Security Council condemned escalating Houthi attacks and demanded a halt, and two days after a strike on Aden’s presidential palace killed at least five people, PTI reported. Saudi civil defence issued an early-Saturday alert for Abha before sending an all-clear, Reuters reported.