Houthi missiles struck the al-Maashiq presidential palace in Aden on Thursday, Oct. 15, killing five people and injuring 16, according to Yemen’s health minister, Qasim Buhaibeh. The palace is the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government. Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani and his ministers were unharmed, the government’s Information Ministry said, but two of his bodyguards were among the dead. Buhaibeh said the casualties included security personnel and civilian employees who work at the complex, the Saudi Gazette reported.
The two sides describe the target differently. The government counts guards and office staff. The Houthis say they hit a Saudi military command post. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on X that the group had bombed “the Saudi enemy’s war operations headquarters in Aden,” and said any Saudi military presence was a legitimate target. A Houthi military source told the group’s version of the Saba news agency that Saudi officers run the headquarters and that weapons depots near the palace were also struck, Voice of Emirates reported. Neither claim has been independently confirmed. The government has not said what kind of missiles hit the compound or how much damage they did, according to the Saudi Gazette.
A toll that rose through the day
The Information Ministry’s early statement reported two of the prime minister’s bodyguards killed. Government sources then told Turkey’s Anadolu Agency that three members of the security detail had died while al-Zindani and other officials were inside the compound. Later, the health minister’s count stood at five dead and 16 injured, the figure Al Jazeera, the Saudi Gazette and TASS all carried.
Accounts of the weapons vary too. Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said five missiles were fired, Al Jazeera reported, and Anadolu’s sources described five ballistic missiles. Al Arabiya reported at least four missiles and five explosions around the complex, according to TASS. A later cabinet statement said the attack used both missiles and drones.
Anadolu called it the first attack on the palace since fighting resumed in July, after a 2022 truce collapsed. Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from Sanaa, called the strikes on the government’s headquarters the “first of their kind” by the Houthis.
Aden after the strike
Al-Zindani called the attack “cowardly” and said his government would keep up operations against the Houthis on the Red Sea coast and other fronts. Rashad al-Alimi, who chairs Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, called it an “extension” of the group’s strikes on airports and oil facilities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, Al Jazeera reported. Youth Minister Nayef Saleh al-Bakri said the cabinet would not leave the city, according to Al Arabiya as cited by ANI.
The strike follows the government’s launch earlier this month of an offensive it calls “Yemen’s Dawn,” and two weeks of Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition says Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport alone has come under at least 20 attacks in 11 days, and that the Houthi attacks have killed 17 people and injured more than 300. Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki accused the group on Thursday of obtaining ballistic missiles from other countries in the region, Al Jazeera and the Saudi Gazette reported.
We’ve covered the U.S. intelligence role in the government offensive in U.S. Stays Out of Yemen’s Offensive, but Supplies the Targets, and what Saudi Arabia has and hasn’t confirmed about the strikes on its own soil in Houthi Strikes on Riyadh, What Saudi Arabia Won’t Confirm and Aramco’s Headquarters Fire.
Sources
- Al Jazeera, “At least 5 killed in Houthi attack on Yemen’s presidential palace in Aden” (Oct. 15, 2026). Used for: the health minister’s toll, al-Eryani’s missile count, the bodyguards, Mawry’s remarks, the coalition’s airport figures and al-Maliki’s accusation.
- Saudi Gazette, “Five killed, 16 wounded as Houthis launch deadly attack on Yemen presidential palace” (Oct. 15, 2026). Used for: the casualties’ roles, al-Zindani’s statement, the cabinet statement, the missing damage details, “Yemen’s Dawn” and al-Maliki’s remarks.
- ANI via The Tribune, “5 killed, 16 injured in Houthi attack on Yemen’s Aden presidential palace” (Oct. 16, 2026). Used for: Saree’s post on X, al-Alimi’s statement and al-Bakri’s remarks.
- Anadolu via Yeni Şafak, “Houthis strike Yemen’s Presidential Palace in Aden with ballistic missiles” (Oct. 15, 2026). Used for: the early toll, the five ballistic missiles, the July resumption of fighting and Saree’s statement.
- Voice of Emirates, “The Yemeni government announces the safety of the Prime Minister after the targeting of the Al-Maashiq Palace in Aden” (Oct. 15, 2026). Used for: the Information Ministry statement and the Houthi-run Saba account.
- TASS, “Houthi raid on presidential palace in Aden kills five people” (Oct. 15, 2026). Used for: Al Arabiya’s missile and explosion count.
- Democracy Now, headlines (Oct. 16, 2026). Used for: the bodyguards and the Riyadh airport figures.