Houthi missiles hit Aden’s Maashiq presidential palace, killing five, health minister says


Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad al-Alimi speaks on the phone in the Dawn of Yemen operations room on October 15, 2026, after the attack on the Maashiq palace in Aden

Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad al-Alimi speaks by phone from the Dawn of Yemen operations room on October 15, 2026, as he checked on council members and the prime minister after the Houthi attack on the Maashiq palace in Aden, in a Saba News Agency photo shared on X by Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani. (Photo: Saba via @ERYANIM on X)

Houthi missiles struck the al-Maashiq presidential palace complex in Aden on Thursday, killing five people and wounding 16, Yemen's health minister said, as the prime minister and cabinet escaped unhurt.

Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani wrote on X at 5:44 p.m. Aden time (10:44 a.m. ET) that Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani and all members of the government were safe after the Houthis targeted the palace in the temporary capital "a short while ago with five missiles." He told the BBC that five ballistic missiles hit the complex, which is the seat of the internationally recognized government.

Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh said on Facebook that the dead and wounded were guards and civilian employees working at the presidential complex, Anadolu Agency reported. He called the strike "a repeat of the targeting of the Yemeni government at Aden airport in December 2020." A government source told Anadolu that several members of the government were inside the palace when the missiles struck.

Eyewitnesses said at least six explosions shook the area near the palace, BBC Amharic reported, and many residents fled. A security official said at least two blasts hit the hill near the palace and two more struck near the gate used by security forces. The official Saba news agency said the Houthis used missiles and drones. Video verified by the BBC showed smoke rising above the complex.

Khalil Al-Omary, chief editor of Al-Yemen Rai, wrote on X minutes after the strike that the Houthis had targeted Maashiq "with six ballistic missiles," while the Yemeni Radar account put the number at four.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed the attack and said the group had struck "the Saudi enemy's military operations headquarters in Aden." In a statement posted in English on X by Sulaiman Ahmed, Saree said the strike "falls within the framework of the previously announced policy: targeting Saudi military concentrations wherever they may be and considering any military presence of the Saudi enemy a legitimate target for our forces, wherever it is located." The Sanaa-based Saba agency said the headquarters was run by Saudi officers and held weapons depots, which Reuters said it could not verify. Sanaa-based Al-Masirah TV cited an unnamed military source who confirmed the palace had been targeted, Anadolu said.

Prime Minister al-Zindani called the attack "cowardly" in a statement Eryani posted on X, and said it aimed to undermine the work of state institutions. He said the government would not be intimidated and would continue the Dawn of Yemen battle "to restore state institutions and end the coup."

The cabinet said in a statement carried by Saba that guards working at the palace had been killed and wounded, and that Aden "will remain the center" of state institutions. It called on the international community and the United Nations to take a clear and firm position on the attacks, to stop treating them as incidents separate from their context, and to hold those responsible to account.

On Friday, the European Union's delegation to Yemen wrote on X that the EU "strongly condemns the attack by the Houthis" on the palace, "where the Yemeni Prime Minister and his cabinet were holding a meeting," and said it would continue to support the Yemeni government "during this critical time."

Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, phoned council members Lieutenant General Abdulrahman al-Mahrami and Lieutenant General Mahmoud al-Subaihi and the prime minister to check on their safety, Saba reported. He ordered the authorities to care for the families of the dead and the wounded, complete the investigations and strengthen protection of state institutions. He also directed military and security agencies to take the measures needed and to deliver "the appropriate response to the sources of the threat, in accordance with the law." Briefings he received said the armed forces, with coalition support, had carried out more than 17,000 air and ground strikes since the Dawn of Yemen operation began, according to operational estimates.

Reuters said it was the first attack on the palace in the current conflict. The Houthis briefly seized the palace in 2015. Anadolu said it was the first attack of its kind on the complex since fighting between the Houthis and the government resumed in July.

On Friday evening Aden time, two ballistic missiles fell next to the runway at Aden International Airport, Al Arabiya correspondent Raed al-Aghbar reported on X, adding that there were no reports of dead or wounded so far. Journalist Ali Al-Sakani wrote on X that the Houthis had struck the airport with two ballistic missiles a day after the palace attack.

The Houthis denied earlier on Thursday that they had attacked Saudi Arabia, after the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a cruise missile over the Medina region, the BBC reported. A Houthi missile strike killed 13 people at Riyadh's international airport on Saturday, according to Reuters. Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Rayed Krimly accused Iran of encouraging the escalation, telling reporters, according to AFP, that "Iran continues to arm, train and support the Houthi militia in violation of UN Security Council resolutions." Iran has previously denied arming the Houthis.

An informal ceasefire began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia, according to the BBC. In September, they seized part of Yemen's southwestern Red Sea coast near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, and last week pro-government forces said they had regained territory overlooking the strait with the support of Saudi air strikes.

At least 1,282 people have been killed and 5,890 injured in the fighting in Yemen since August 6, according to the government's health ministry, and the United Nations says another 201,000 people have been displaced amid an alarming rise in suspected cholera cases, the BBC reported.

Sources

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