Three witnesses told they heard loud booms in the vicinity of the palace. (Photo/X user)
Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said at a press conference that the Houthis had launched 20 attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month, killing 17 people and wounding 333 others. The coalition also said Houthi attacks on Abha airport, in southwestern Saudi Arabia near the Yemeni border, had killed three people and wounded 28. The spokesperson also said the coalition had destroyed 127 weapons storage facilities and launch platforms in Yemen’s mountainous areas.
Yemen’s prime minister and ministers who were at the complex in Aden were unharmed, two government officials told new agency Reuters. The attack on presidential palace comes just hours after Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen said that 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. Maliki said the Houthis had acquired advanced military technology with the help of “regional actors,” including ballistic missiles, drones and explosive-laden fast boats.
However, some reports claim two security guards in the palace have been killed in the attack. Amid the raging battle against Saudi Arabia , the attack gains significance as the palace houses the internationally recognised government, which also has the firm backing of the Kingdom. 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. The coalition’s latest statement highlighted the risk to Saudi civilian infrastructure as the conflict escalated. The airport, one of Saudi Arabia’s main international aviation hubs, was among the civilian infrastructure targeted in what the coalition described as a series of attacks.