Yemen’s internationally recognised government says Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani and members of his cabinet survived a Houthi missile attack on the al-Maashiq presidential palace in the southern port city of Aden on Thursday, October 15, 2026. 

The attack killed members of the prime minister’s security detail.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said the Iran-backed Houthis fired five missiles at the palace complex, which is the headquarters of the Saudi-backed government, while the prime minister and ministers were inside. The ministry said two security guards were killed. Three government military sources later told AFP that at least four people had died and 10 others were wounded, so the toll could still change. Eyewitnesses reported hearing five explosions and seeing plumes of smoke rising near the palace in Aden’s Crater district. The extent of the damage, and whether the palace building itself was hit, was not immediately clear.

The Houthis have not formally acknowledged targeting the government. Their military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, however, said the group struck what he described as a Saudi military operations headquarters in Aden, as part of a declared policy of targeting Saudi military build-ups wherever they are.

Houthi-run Saba News Agency, citing a military official, said the attack also targeted weapons depots at the complex. Yemeni officials, by contrast, described the attack as an attempt to wipe out the government. Yemen’s internationally recognised government is led by Rashad al-Alimi, who mostly stays in Riyadh for security reasons.

The strike comes as the regional war involving Iran continues to widen, and as tensions between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition escalate. The coalition’s spokesperson, Turki al-Maliki, said in Riyadh that Houthi attacks on King Khalid International Airport between October 7 and October 11 killed 17 people and injured 333, and demanded that the group “immediately cease all terrorist operations against civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

He added that the coalition has destroyed 127 weapons storage sites and launch platforms in Yemen’s mountainous regions. Yemen’s government also said the Houthis targeted the city of Marib with missiles on Thursday.

Aden has served as the interim capital of the internationally recognised government since Houthi forces overran Sanaa and much of northern Yemen in 2014. Government officials have survived attacks on the city before, including the 2020 airport bombing that targeted a newly arrived cabinet.