ADEN, Yemen — Wednesday, October 7, 2026: The Houthi movement fired two ballistic missiles at Aden International Airport in the early hours of Wednesday, marking a sharp escalation in Yemen’s renewed war, as the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a separate Houthi missile aimed at the Saudi city of Khamis Mushait.
No casualties were reported at the airport, the media office of Aden’s security department said, but Yemen’s Transport Ministry described the strike as “a serious escalation” that endangered civilian passengers and flight crews.
Missiles Strike as Flight Approaches
One missile landed near the runway “minutes” before Yemenia flight 603 from Cairo was due to land, the Transport Ministry said, forcing authorities to divert the aircraft to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. The ministry said the Houthis also launched several explosive-laden drones in the attack.
Passengers and staff were evacuated from the terminal, officials said, while two aircraft on the ground — one belonging to Yemenia and another to Aden Airways — were moved away from the area after drones were detected over the city.
“Aden airport should remain a safe space for passengers and workers, not an arena of fear and threat,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that the attack “placed the lives of civilians and aviation crews in direct danger”.
Coalition Intercepts Missile Over Khamis Mushait
Earlier on Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile launched toward Khamis Mushait in southwestern Saudi Arabia, a city home to a major airbase, Saudi state television reported.
Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said on Tuesday that another missile bound for the city had also been intercepted, and said the threats had originated from the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa and the governorates of Saada and Amran. The coalition said it would continue operations to neutralize missile threats and destroy their launch sites.
Following the coalition’s statement, Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV said Saudi forces had carried out a strike in an area spanning the central governorates of Ibb and Taiz. There was no immediate confirmation from the Saudi-led coalition, and claims from both sides remain impossible to independently verify as fighting moves quickly across the country.
Escalation Across Two Fronts
The attack on Aden, the main international gateway serving parts of Yemen outside Houthi control, follows weeks of Houthi advances along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and a Saudi-backed government counteroffensive that has recaptured areas around the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait with coalition air support.
Sources on both sides told AFP on Tuesday that fighting across the country had killed more than 270 government troops and Houthi fighters over the past day.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree denied the group had been pushed back, saying on Telegram that Houthi fighters “have full control over all their advances on the ground”, and claimed dozens of strikes against government forces in Al-Jawf, Marib and Taiz.
The acceleration of fighting has made Yemen the most active battlefield in the wider regional conflict, squeezing global energy markets and threatening one of the world’s busiest shipping chokepoints. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has warned airlines that recurrent missile and drone attacks “create an increased risk of misidentification of civil aircraft”.
