Houthis fire two missiles at Aden airport, Yemen says; Saudi-led coalition downs missile aimed at Riyadh

Yemen’s internationally recognised government says Houthi forces fired two ballistic missiles at Aden international airport on Saturday 24 October, while the Saudi-led coalition said it destroyed another missile aimed at Riyadh on Sunday 25 October. The two statements, reported by Al Jazeera and AFP, come as Riyadh’s airport is due to reopen after two weeks of closure and the Houthis describe it as still a target.

Aden: second airport attack claim this month

According to Al Jazeera’s account, Yemen’s Ministry of Transport said in a Facebook post that the two missiles were aimed at Aden international airport and called it the “fourth such attack this month”. The ministry said the attacks threaten “the safety of civil aviation”. Yemeni authorities also said the coastguard headquarters and a second building were hit.

The Houthis gave a different account of their targets in Aden. They claimed attacks on the al-Nasr camp and on a naval base in the city. Neither version has been independently confirmed.

Riyadh: coalition says missile destroyed

On Sunday the coalition’s spokesperson said: “Air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward Riyadh.” The wording is the coalition’s own characterisation of the group.

Riyadh’s international airport was closed for two weeks after Houthi strikes on the capital and said flights would resume on Sunday, Al Jazeera reported. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the airport remains “unsafe” and a “military target”. A Flightradar24 feed showed a Riyadh to Jeddah departure early on Sunday, the outlet said. Our earlier report covers the interception of Houthi missiles fired at Riyadh and Khamis Mushait.

Holy cities: Saudi warning and Houthi denial

On Saturday Saudi civil defence said on X that two Houthi ballistic missiles had been launched toward Mecca and Medina and warned of falling shrapnel. The Houthis rejected this, calling the claim a “huge lie” and saying their targets were three Saudi airports, oil infrastructure and an air base. The Gulf Cooperation Council’s secretary-general, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, called the attacks “heinous”. We reported the civil defence statement in Debris from Houthi ballistic missiles fell on Mecca, Saudi Civil Defense says; Houthis deny targeting the holy cities.

Malfunction claim and fighting in Taiz

Yemen’s army said a Houthi missile malfunctioned and fell on a family home in Houthi-held Sanaa on Friday, killing three people, and described this as one of several malfunctions in recent weeks. Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said coalition air strikes killed several civilians in Sanaa and Hodeidah on Saturday; Al Jazeera said it could not verify this and that Saudi Arabia had not commented.

On the ground, army spokesman Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili said government forces carried out more than 700 “targeting operations” in 24 hours and claimed 300 Houthi fighters were “neutralised”. Al Jazeera said it could not verify these figures. The UN has separately described the situation in the besieged city in Taiz cut off for 20 days: UN says 800,000 people without aid.