Yemen: Houthi missiles hit the presidential palace in Aden, five dead and 16 wounded, government safe

The Houthis hit the Maasik presidential palace in Aden’s Crater district with missiles and drones on Thursday, October 15. The palace is the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government. Health Minister Qasem Buhaibeh raised the toll to five dead and 16 wounded, among them guards and civil servants.

Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani said the palace was targeted with five missiles and that Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani and all members of the government are safe. It is the first attack on Aden since fighting between the Houthis and government forces resumed last month, after about four years of relative calm.

The Cabinet announced that the attack “will not harm the will of the state and the government, nor deter it from continuing its national and constitutional responsibilities”, and that “the temporary capital Aden will remain the centre of the state’s institutions”. It linked the strike to the government operation “Yemen Dawn”, which targets Sanaa, and to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, calling on the UN for “a clear and decisive stand”.

Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad al-Alimi spoke with council members Abdulrahman al-Muharrami and Mahmoud al-Subaihi and with the prime minister, ordered an investigation and tighter security measures, and was told that since the start of “Yemen Dawn” more than 17,000 air and ground strikes have been carried out on Houthi targets with coalition support. Al-Subaihi spoke of a “dangerous escalation”, which in his view came after Houthi losses on the West Coast and on the Taiz front.

What the Houthis claim

The Houthi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, claimed a “qualitative operation that targeted a war-operations centre run by Saudi officers inside the Maasik palace”, as well as weapons depots, according to the Houthi outlet 26sep.net. “Every military presence of the Saudi enemy is considered a legitimate target,” he said. A later Houthi announcement of dead and wounded Saudi officers has not been confirmed by Riyadh.

The same day the UN Security Council issued a presidential statement condemning the Houthi escalation and their attacks on Saudi Arabia and affirming the Kingdom’s right to self-defence. According to the coalition spokesman, Brigadier General Turki al-Maliki, Riyadh’s King Khalid airport has been attacked at least 20 times in 11 days, and Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have killed 17 people and wounded more than 300. In the largest of them, 12 people were killed in Riyadh.

A few hours before the attack on Aden, the coalition had announced the destruction of 127 mountain missile depots of the Houthis and the shooting down of a cruise missile over Medina, while the fighting in besieged Taiz continues with growing intensity.