Houthi Missiles Hit Presidential Palace in Aden, Killing Five

Updated 05:14 UTC: Yemen's Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh said the toll from the palace attack is now five people killed and 16 injured. The casualties included security personnel guarding the site and civilian employees who worked at the complex, and CNN reported that two of the dead were members of the prime minister's security detail. Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani condemned the attack and said the government would keep carrying out its duties and keep fighting the Houthis on the Red Sea coast and other fronts. The Houthis said they had targeted what they described as a Saudi military operations headquarters inside the palace compound. The strike was one of the highest profile attacks on the government since it launched its Yemen's Dawn campaign earlier this month, CNN reported.

Updated 20:54 UTC: Government military sources in Yemen now say at least four people were killed and 10 wounded in the strikes on the al-Maashiq palace, Agence France-Presse reported. An AFP journalist in Aden saw smoke rising over the complex, and residents reported hearing explosions across the city. The first count given by government officials, two guards killed and six wounded, was reported by Reuters and the Associated Press. The military sources gave the higher toll later on Thursday, October 15. Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for encouraging the escalation and said it remained in contact with Tehran. The Houthis also fired several ballistic missiles at Marib, in the oil rich centre of the country, Yemeni government forces said.

ADEN. Five Houthi ballistic missiles hit the al-Maashiq presidential palace complex in Aden on Thursday, Oct 15, 2026, killing two security guards and wounding others, Yemeni officials said. Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani and the cabinet members inside the complex were not hurt.

Witnesses heard at least six explosions near the palace, the Associated Press reported, and residents fled the area in panic. A security official told the AP that at least two explosions struck the hill near the palace and two more landed near its security gate. The government said the attack used missiles and drones.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani told the BBC that the prime minister and other ministers were unhurt when the five missiles hit the palace, but that many other people were injured. The government Ministry of Information said in a statement that the prime minister and members of the government were safe after the attack on the palace in Aden, the interim capital.

The Houthi claim

The Houthis claimed the strike at once. The Houthi-run Saba news agency, citing a military official, said the group had hit a military operations headquarters run by Saudi officers inside the complex, and weapons depots as well. Military spokesman Yahya Saree said the strike was part of a declared policy of hitting Saudi military build-ups wherever they are found.

Reuters said it could not independently verify the Houthi claims about what was inside the complex. The Yemeni government gave no early detail on the type of missiles used or the full extent of the damage, CNN reported.

Aden is the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised government, which Saudi Arabia backs. A Saudi-led coalition gives air support to pro-government forces fighting the Iran-backed Houthis, the BBC reported.

A week of attacks on Saudi Arabia

The palace strike landed in the middle of a wider escalation. The Saudi-led coalition said on Thursday that the Houthis had tried to attack dozens of Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said Houthi attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month had killed 17 people and wounded 333, and that attacks on Abha airport, in the southwest near the Yemeni border, had killed three people and wounded 28.

The Houthis have fired ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi sites for a week, in response to Saudi backing for government forces in Yemen's renewed civil war. On Wednesday, Oct 14, the group vowed to press on with attacks on Saudi airports and oil sites and said it had struck the headquarters of Saudi Aramco in Dhahran the day before. Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said that attack caused a limited fire and no injuries.

The AP said the Aden attack was a rare strike on the palace area, and that the escalation has complicated efforts to end the wider Iran war and rattled markets while Saudi Arabia, one of the world's top oil exporters, faces repeated attacks. For Aden, a city that has lived with war for years, Thursday brought the fighting to the seat of government itself.