Ansar Allah launched an attack on Thursday targeting the headquarters of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government in Aden as the Yemen war continues to escalate.
Officials within the Saudi-backed government said that the strike on the presidential palace killed five people and wounded 16, and that the casualties included security personnel and civilians who worked at the facility, while Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, said that it targeted the Saudi military.
“The bombing of the Saudi enemy’s military operations headquarters in Aden comes within the framework of the declared equation of striking Saudi troop concentrations wherever they may be, and considering any Saudi enemy military presence a legitimate target for our forces wherever it may be,” Ansar Allah military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on Telegram.
A military source from the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces claimed to Yemen’s Saba news agency that “a number of Saudi officers were killed and wounded as a result of a strike that targeted their headquarters in Aden.”
Shaya al-Zindani, the prime minister of the Saudi-backed government, was said to be at the palace at the time of the strike and was unharmed. The Riyadh-based Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), established by Saudi Arabia after Riyadh gave up its goal of reinstalling former President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in Sanaa, appointed al-Zindani prime minister in January after Saudi Arabia clashed with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council.
Also on Thursday, Saree denied Saudi claims that Ansar Allah targeted Medina, the second holiest city in Islam. “The Yemeni Armed Forces confirm that they did not carry out any targeting operations towards Saudi territory today, and that the Saudi enemy’s claim of targeting Medina is a blatant and gross fabrication,” he said.
Saudi airstrikes continued to hit northern Yemen, and fighting between Ansar Allah and Saudi-backed forces continued around the city of Taiz, which is under siege as Ansar Allah’s forces have it encircled.
