Deadly strike hits seat of Yemen’s government
ADEN, Yemen — October 16, 2026 — The Iran-backed Houthis struck Yemen’s presidential palace in the southern port city of Aden on Thursday with a volley of ballistic missiles, killing five people and wounding 16 others in the boldest attack yet on the seat of the country’s internationally recognised government.
Explosions shook the Al-Maashiq palace compound as at least five missiles slammed into the complex, sending columns of smoke rising over the interim capital, residents and an Agence France-Presse journalist on the ground said. Yemen’s health minister said the dead and wounded included security personnel guarding the site and civilian government employees.
Prime minister escapes unharmed
Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani was inside the compound when the missiles struck but escaped unharmed, according to a government minister who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity. In a post on X, the prime minister condemned the assault as a “cowardly” attack and accused the Houthis of a continued “criminal pattern” of striking civilian sites.
Yemen’s Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh said on Facebook that five people were killed and 16 injured “among those working to guard the site and civilian employees.” The government’s Information Ministry said the prime minister and other ministers present were “safe.”
Houthis say they targeted Saudi command
The Houthis confirmed through their military spokesman that they had targeted the palace, claiming they struck a Saudi military operations centre inside the compound. Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV cited an unnamed military source confirming the attack without giving further details.
A Yemeni government minister said the Houthis fired three missiles at a command centre used by Yemeni government forces and two more at a command centre of the Saudi-led coalition inside the palace complex, adding that both Yemeni and Saudi personnel were among the casualties, though he did not give a specific breakdown.
First strike since war flared anew
The assault was the first direct attack on the Al-Maashiq complex since Yemen’s civil war flared back to life in July, following the collapse of a years-long truce and a renewed Houthi offensive in September. It came amid an escalation in Houthi strikes across Yemen and Saudi Arabia, including fresh missile launches toward the central city of Marib and intercepted drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s southern region and the city of Khamis Mushait.
The palace strike landed the same day Riyadh accused Tehran of arming, training and supporting the Houthis in violation of UN Security Council resolutions — a charge Iran’s mission has dismissed.
The attack marks a dangerous new phase in a conflict that has already spilled into the Red Sea shipping lanes and into Saudi airspace, where the coalition says Houthi attacks on airports, ports and oil facilities have continued through October.
