Yemen's internationally recognized government on October 8 accused the Houthi movement of launching ballistic missiles and drones at Aden International Airport, the main airport under government control. At the same time, Saudi Arabia said it intercepted another missile north of the capital, Riyadh.
In a statement issued on Wednesday (October 8), Yemen's Transport Ministry said the Houthis targeted the airport's runway and passenger terminal with at least two ballistic missiles and multiple drones.
"One of the missiles landed near the runway just minutes before a flight from Cairo (Egypt) was due to land," the statement said. "We cancelled the landing of the flight from Cairo and diverted it to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) to ensure the safety of passengers."
The ministry also said it evacuated the terminal and moved two aircraft away from the parking area during the attacks, warning that the incident could have turned a civilian flight into a humanitarian disaster, killing dozens of innocent people in an instant.
Aden is the main international gateway to parts of Yemen outside Houthi control and has hosted the government's headquarters since the Iran-backed armed group seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
For its part, the Houthis said in a statement that they used ballistic missiles to strike "Saudi military supply sources" arriving at the Badr camp near Aden airport. Saudi Arabia is the main backer of Yemen's government.
The Saudi-led coalition intervening in Yemen said it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis north of Riyadh. Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said on social media that intelligence systems had tracked the launch pad used in the attack over Sanaa and pledged to destroy it.
Earlier, in statements on October 7 and in the early hours of October 8, the Houthis said they had targeted Saudi international airports in Riyadh and Abha.
The escalating developments in Yemen come amid rising regional tensions following the war between the United States and Israel on one side and Iran on the other. Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia have launched a counteroffensive to retake the Red Sea port of Mocha and areas around the Bab al-Mandeb strait, with fighting concentrated in the southwestern province of Taiz.
Al Jazeera correspondent Yousef Mawry in Sanaa described the fighting as "all-out battles to control the ground, the highlands and the mountains east of Bab al-Mandeb." According to him, control of the strategic western area of Taiz and the wider surrounding region would provide a dominant military advantage, and for the Yemeni government to take Mocha and bases along the Red Sea coast, it must first push the Houthis out of the mountains east of the port city.
Meanwhile, Pakistan and Turkey on October 7 agreed to activate "deterrence measures" under a joint defence treaty with Saudi Arabia and to quickly deploy forces to the kingdom to counter Houthi attacks.
