Houthis Strike Aden Airport With Two Missiles After Evacuation Warning

Photo: AFPTV via Arab News

Yemen's Houthis struck Aden airport with two ballistic missiles on Wednesday, hours after warning people to evacuate the facility, causing civilian injuries and material damage and halting air traffic at the main gateway to southern Yemen.

Residents in the southern port city, where the internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government is based, said they heard explosions near the airport, a humanitarian lifeline and the main entry point for aid to the south. Two transport ministry officials told Reuters that air traffic was halted after the first strike, and an aid source said some United Nations staff left the airport shortly before the attack. Officials said at that stage that no one had been hurt.

Main News Report

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a post on X that the evacuation warning was prompted by what he said was the presence of a Saudi military cargo aircraft delivering weapons at the airport. There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities on that claim.

Later on Wednesday, Arab News reported a further attack, in which two ballistic missiles hit the airport. A police source told Agence France-Presse that a missile had fallen within the airport grounds. The spokesperson for Yemen's Armed Forces, Col. Majid Al-Nuzaily, said the attack caused civilian injuries and material damage, and described it as the sixth Houthi strike on the airport in a matter of days.

The International Organisation for Migration said that its personnel travelling through Aden were safe and accounted for after reports of an attack. On Tuesday, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said that one of its aircraft was about to take off from Aden airport a few days ago when humanitarian workers were told to seek shelter as a missile struck nearby. "Aden airport is the main entry point for humanitarian workers, supplies and medical equipment to the southern parts of Yemen, and safe access to it is crucial," the organisation said in a statement.

Background Context

The attack comes as fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's government has intensified in recent weeks, opening a volatile new front in the wider US-Israeli war on Iran. Last month, Houthi forces advanced towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most strategically important shipping routes, which lies opposite the Strait of Hormuz across the Arabian Peninsula.

Government forces have since pushed to retake territory on the Red Sea coast in a move that could loosen the Houthis' grip on the chokepoint, while the coalition has stepped up strikes against Houthi positions in response to the group's escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia. Houthi-run Al Masirah TV reported that 14 people were killed and 15 others were injured in what it described as a Saudi attack on the northern Yemeni Jawf region.

The renewed fighting has shattered a 2022 UN-brokered truce that had largely halted major attacks in a conflict which began after the Houthis drove the government from Sanaa in 2014. Aid agencies warn the latest violence is rapidly worsening conditions in a country already suffering from one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Reactions and Statements

Yemen's Transport Ministry condemned the attack on the airport, warning that the continued strikes posed a serious threat to civil aviation safety. Col. Al-Nuzaily said the strikes threatened both the lives of civilians and the safety of air navigation, and called them part of a recurring series of attacks on civilian and vital infrastructure.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities on the Houthi claim about a Saudi military cargo aircraft at Aden airport. The International Organisation for Migration confirmed its travelling personnel were safe, and the aid source cited by Reuters said UN staff had left the airport shortly before the attack.

Medecins Sans Frontieres had already warned on Tuesday that safe access to Aden airport was crucial, after its own aircraft was caught in a missile scare there a few days ago. The charity's warning now reads as a preview of Wednesday's strikes: the airport that aid workers depend on is itself a repeated target.

Why This News Matters

Aden airport is not just another target. It is how food, medicine and aid workers reach southern Yemen, and how the internationally recognised government connects to the outside world. Every strike on it makes airlines, aid agencies and staff think twice about using it, and that caution alone can slow the aid that millions of Yemenis depend on.

The strike also shows how far the fighting has spread. The Houthis struck a Saudi refinery at Ras Tanura earlier this week, and now they have hit the seat of Yemen's own government in the south. For Pakistan, which has watched the Saudi-Houthi escalation closely through the Makkah pact debate, the widening front is a reminder that this war no longer stays in one place.

Future Developments

Watch for whether air traffic resumes at Aden airport and for any Saudi or Yemeni government response to the strikes and to the Houthi claim about a weapons cargo aircraft. The next test is whether the airport stays open for aid flights in the coming days, or whether it becomes a repeated target that aid agencies have to route around.

Also watch the Red Sea coast fighting and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, where the Houthi advance last month and the government counter-push are still playing out. If either side escalates further, shipping through one of the world's busiest chokepoints could feel it next.

Sources

• AsiaOne (Reuters): Houthis strike Yemen's Aden airport after evacuation warning
• ThePrint (Reuters): Houthis strike Yemen's Aden airport after evacuation warning
• Reuters: Yemen's Houthis call for immediate evacuation of Aden airport
• Arab News (AFP): Houthis strike Aden airport with two ballistic missiles

Related reading on PakInsight Hub: Houthis say they hit Saudi Ras Tanura oil refinery as Riyadh says it shot down missiles, Qatar gives Iran new peace deal to end war with US and Israel and US warns Gulf states to prepare for short, intense Iran campaign after midterms.

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