Houthis target Yemen’s presidential palace in Aden with missiles

Yemen’s Houthis have hit the vicinity of the al-Maashiq presidential palace in the port city of Aden with multiple missiles.

The Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said in a social media post on Thursday that Houthis had targeted the al-Maashiq presidential palace with five missiles.

The government says the prime minister and other officials are safe, but two of his bodyguards were killed in the attack.

Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the vicinity of the palace.

Al Jazeera correspondents reported earlier on Thursday that there were explosions near the palace.

The palace is considered the headquarters and the seat of power for the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government.

Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, said the attacks on the headquarters of the internationally recognised government are the “first of their kind” by the Houthis.

“This is an indication that the escalation is going to intensify between both sides,” Mawry said, adding that fears are now growing inside the country of “an all-out civil war” that could potentially drag in other regional powers besides Saudi Arabia.

The attack in Aden came as fighting between the Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for Supporters of God), and Saudi-backed forces intensified in Taiz, which is effectively under siege by the Houthis.

Controlling Taiz, Yemen’s third city and the broader Taiz governorate, in the southwest of the country would ensure control over the critical Bab al-Mandeb strait for either side.

Forces allied with the Yemeni government said they are repelling a Houthi attack on Dhubab airport.

The pro-government Homeland Shield Force said in a statement that they are, along with the Southern Giants Brigades, securing the airport in the coastal city of Dhubab in Taiz governorate.

Aid agencies say the escalating violence in Taiz is pushing the healthcare system towards breaking point.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Public Health warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” there.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition says Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport has come under at least 20 Houthi attacks over the past 11 days with dozens of other airports, oil facilities and ports also targeted.

Major-General Turki al-Maliki, the spokesperson for the alliance, released footage showing strikes on the main airport with passengers seen fleeing for safety, during a news conference in the Saudi capital,

The coalition says the Houthi attacks have killed 17 people and injured more than 300.

Al-Maliki also accused the Houthis of obtaining ballistic missiles from other countries in the region.

Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said the Saudi-led coalition’s news conference was intended as a response “to some of the, perhaps, military and security failures”.

“There’s kind of an image problem there because this is maybe affecting the perception of Saudi deterrence, the fact that missiles are getting through,” he told Al Jazeera.

Elmasry said the Houthis also have an image crisis, with the global community viewing their actions as “reprehensible, in particular these targeting civilian infrastructure”.

Source: www.aljazeera.com