Houthis fire several missiles at Yemen's al-Maashiq presidential palace in Aden

The Houthis fired several missiles at the al-Maashiq presidential palace complex in Aden, on Yemen's south coast, Saudi Arabian media reported. The reports said Yemeni Prime Minister Shaye al-Zindani and the cabinet ministers are safe.

Witnesses told news agencies they heard loud booms near the palace. Sources who spoke to local media counted between four and six explosions, which caused panic among residents who fled the area. A security official said at least two of the explosions were on top of the hill near the palace, and two others were heard below near the security gate leading up.

Houthi media said the group targeted an operation room and a weapons warehouse at a military headquarters inside the palace, which they claim is being used by Saudi coalition forces. Al-Maashiq is the residence of the chairman of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, recognised as the country's head of state. Yemeni government forces added that the Houthis also targeted Marib city, nearly 200 miles north of Aden, with missiles.

Separately, the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said the Houthis had attempted to attack dozens of Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities, as fighting between the Iran-aligned group and Saudi Arabia intensified. The Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles and drones at key Saudi sites for a week, in response to the kingdom's backing of government forces in Yemen's renewed civil war.

Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said the Houthis had launched 20 attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month, killing 17 people and wounding 333 others. He said attacks on Abha airport, in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border, had killed three people and wounded 28. Maliki said the Houthis had acquired advanced military technology, including ballistic missiles, drones and explosive-laden fast boats, with the help of "regional actors," and that the coalition had destroyed 127 weapons storage facilities and launch platforms in Yemen's mountainous areas. He called on the group to immediately halt operations targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, and said it should read the coalition's statement carefully and "between the lines."

Shortly afterwards, the Houthi military spokesperson said Saudi airspace and airports were unsafe, renewing a warning to airlines while excluding airspace over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the following year. The UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major fighting, and a de facto truce held even after it expired six months later, but efforts to turn it into a lasting political settlement have stalled as regional tensions have intensified.