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Yemen's southern gateway came under fire again on October 28, when Houthi ballistic missiles struck Aden International Airport twice — shortly after the group's military spokesman told everyone at the facility to evacuate. According to reports from India TV News and Terror Monitor, Yemen's internationally recognised government condemned the attacks as a direct threat to passengers, aviation crews and workers, and airport operations were suspended.
What happened at the airport
Yemen's Transport Ministry said the airport was targeted twice, at approximately 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. local time, bringing the reported number of attacks on the facility to six in recent days. A video released by the ministry and circulated by local media showed two craters caused by explosions in the airport runway. Earlier, Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree had urged civilians to evacuate, claiming a Saudi military cargo plane carrying weapons was on the ground there. He provided no evidence for that claim, and neither Saudi officials nor the Yemeni government responded publicly to it. A local police source told Agence France-Presse that one missile fell within the airport grounds and the aircraft was not hit, taking off shortly afterwards.
The human disruption
The airport was deserted after the warning, an airport employee told The Associated Press, and a security official said no staff or security personnel remained. Flights from Cairo and Mumbai bound for Aden were diverted to Seiyun airport in Hadramawt province, and a flight to Cairo was cancelled. The Associated Press also reported explosions that shattered windows in the terminal building and nearby homes. Government officials told Reuters there were civilian injuries and material damage, while an aid source told the agency that some United Nations personnel had left the airport shortly beforehand and no UN staff were injured. A confirmed casualty count had not been established at the time of reporting.
A pattern, not an isolated strike
This was not the first attack on Aden airport this month. On October 24, the Transport Ministry reported that two ballistic missiles targeted the airport, the fourth such attack in October, and on October 7 a missile landed near the runway shortly before a flight from Cairo was due to arrive, forcing the plane to divert to Jeddah while staff evacuated the terminal. Aden is the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised government and its main international gateway for the government-held south — which is precisely why it keeps being targeted. Two days before the latest strikes, Saudi state media reported coalition operations against Houthi missile infrastructure, claiming five storage tunnels, four launchers and a missile storage facility destroyed.
The other side of the same day
The same day, the Houthi-run Health Ministry reported that Saudi-led airstrikes killed at least 14 people in a crowded market in al-Hazm, the capital of al-Jawf province — including, according to a Houthi health official, three children and two women, with 15 others wounded. That toll is attributed to the Houthi side and remains preliminary. Taken together, the two sets of claims describe a war that is escalating on both sides at once: airports and markets, runways and shoppers. For civilians, the distinction between military target and civilian space is narrowing by the day, and Aden's airport — the south's lifeline to the outside world — is now firmly on the front line.
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