The Saudi-led coalition announced, at dawn on Thursday, the interception and destruction of a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards the eastern region of the Kingdom.
Coalition spokesman, Turki Al-Maliki, said in a post on the X platform, “The air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards the eastern region.”
The Yemeni Ministry of Transport in the internationally recognized government announced that the Ansar Allah Houthi group attacked Aden International Airport twice, yesterday, Wednesday, "using a number of ballistic missiles."
According to a statement, the Ministry condemned the attack, noting that the number of attacks that targeted the airport reached six “within days.”
She said that Wednesday's attacks occurred "at one o'clock in the afternoon... and at three o'clock in the afternoon" local time.
According to the statement, the Ministry considered that the repeated targeting of the airport “represents a direct threat to the lives of passengers, aircraft crews and workers, and exposes civil aviation traffic to serious risks, in addition to its serious repercussions on the movement of citizens and humanitarian and relief efforts.”
Earlier, on Wednesday, the Houthis called on those present at the airport in the city of Aden, where the Yemeni internationally recognized government is based, to evacuate it immediately, speaking about the presence of a Saudi plane transporting weapons, in light of the continuing strikes between the two parties.
The military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, said on the X platform, “Our armed forces call on those present at Aden airport to immediately evacuate the airport due to the presence of a military cargo plane belonging to the Saudi enemy transporting weapons to kill the Yemeni people.”
About an hour later, Saree renewed his call to evacuate the airport.
Agence France-Presse quoted two Aden police sources as saying that two missiles fired by the Houthis landed at the city's airport.
One of the sources said, "A Houthi missile fell on the campus of Aden Airport, before the Houthis issued the evacuation order," adding that "the strike occurred while a Saudi military plane was present, but it did not sustain any injury and took off after a short period."
Meanwhile, the second source reported that a new Houthi missile “targeted the part under the control of Saudi forces in the Aden airport campus,” according to Agence France-Presse.
The spokesman for the Yemeni government forces, Majed Abdullah Al-Nuzaili, announced that a number of civilians were injured and material damage occurred as a result of two ballistic missiles falling in the vicinity of Aden International Airport, accusing the Houthis of being behind the attack, according to Agence France-Presse.
Reuters quoted two officials in the Yemeni Ministry of Transport as saying that air traffic stopped after the strike. A relief source said that some United Nations employees left the airport shortly before the attack, and that no one was harmed.
The local "Aden Al-Ghad" website reported that the two attacks led to the evacuation of the airport and the disruption of four flights, in addition to causing damage to its facilities, according to what was reported by the BBC Monitoring Unit.
In this context, Reuters verified the location of a video clip showing a hole in the runway of Aden Airport following the attack, by matching the features of the runway, buildings, and surrounding mountains with satellite images, maps, and previous photographs of the site.
A shipping source also told Agence France-Presse, "Employees and civilians were evacuated at the airport after the latest Houthi warning."
The International Organization for Migration confirmed that its employees who were traveling through Aden Airport were fine, and that their safety had been confirmed after reports of the attack were received.
Reuters quoted two relief sources as saying that a flight carrying humanitarian workers left Aden Airport on Wednesday morning, heading to the Jordanian capital, Amman, before the attack occurred.
The Ansar Allah Houthi group, which controls the capital, Sanaa, launched repeated attacks on the airport, a lifeline for humanitarian supplies and the gateway to southern Yemen.
The Houthis had targeted a military site belonging to the Saudi-led coalition near Aden Airport last Saturday, after a similar attack the previous week, according to a police source quoted by Agence France-Presse.
Two missiles also landed inside the airport campus earlier in October, a day after a bloody missile attack targeted the presidential palace in Aden.
Reuters reported that residents in Aden heard explosions in the city, before the warning issued by the Houthis.
14 killed in a “Saudi” attack
Meanwhile, Al-Masirah Channel, affiliated with the Ansar Allah Houthi group, accused Saudi Arabia of launching a raid on the city of Al-Hazm, the center of Al-Jawf Governorate in northwestern Yemen, which resulted in the killing of at least 14 people.
The channel reported that "the death toll from the Saudi aggression on Hazm Al-Jawf has risen to 14 martyrs and 15 wounded, including women and children," noting that the raid targeted a market and a gas station in Hazm Al-Jawf.
She said the death toll was "preliminary and not final."
The military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, also accused Saudi Arabia of launching 101 attacks during the past 24 hours on eight Yemeni governorates, including Sanaa, resulting in “dozens” of deaths and injuries, including women and children.
Sarie said that the total number of Saudi attacks since the start of the escalation has reached 3,480, according to Houthi figures.
Confrontations continue on the ground in Yemen between the Houthis and government forces. While the Houthis are targeting various areas in Saudi Arabia, especially airports and oil facilities, they say that Saudi Arabia is carrying out intensive air strikes on areas under their control in Yemen.
On Wednesday, the Houthis announced targeting the Saudi Ministry of Defense, the Ras Tanura Refinery, the largest oil refinery in Saudi Arabia located on the Gulf, and Abha Airport.
On the other hand, the Saudi-led coalition announced the interception and destruction of a number of missiles and drones.
Suffering of pregnant women
As the fighting continues, relief agencies have warned that the latest developments have caused a rapid deterioration of the situation in a country suffering from one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
One of them, a displaced woman in the Ma’rib camp, complained to the BBC’s Middle East Diary program about the lack of hospitals or health centers inside the camp, and her inability to leave it, noting that there was no money, food, clothes, or even milk for the children, after she was forced to leave her home.
The Kuwaiti Foreign Minister in Riyadh
Diplomatically, the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, arrived in Riyadh on an official visit and met his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
During the meeting, the Kuwaiti Minister renewed his country’s condemnation and denunciation of what he described as “terrorist attacks” launched by the Ansar Allah Houthi movement against a number of regions in the Kingdom, and its attempts to target the cities of Mecca and Medina, stressing that this “represents a blatant violation of the Kingdom’s sovereignty, a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, a blatant violation of the sanctity of Islamic sanctities and their religious status, and a provocation to the feelings of Muslims around the world,” according to the statement. A statement by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The meeting also discussed, according to the statement, “the latest regional developments and their repercussions on the security and stability of the region, as the two sides stressed the importance of continuing Kuwaiti-Saudi consultation and coordination at various levels, and intensifying joint efforts to confront the current challenges, in light of the delicate circumstances that the region is going through, based on the unity of destiny and common interests, and the keenness of the two brotherly countries to consolidate the foundations of regional security and stability.”
