Yemen’s Ansar Allah group carried out an attack on Aden airport on Wednesday, government officials reported, amid escalating clashes in the southern port city that serves as the seat of the internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government. Residents in Aden said they heard an explosion near the facility, which functions as a vital humanitarian hub and the primary entry point to southern Yemen. Following the attack, air traffic was suspended, according to two officials from the transport ministry.
Ansar Allah spokesperson Yahya Saree posted on X that the group had issued an evacuation warning for the airport due to the presence of a Saudi military cargo plane reportedly delivering weapons. The group, which controls Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and much of the northwest, has frequently targeted Aden airport in previous confrontations. Residents noted that explosions were also audible in other parts of the city prior to the evacuation alert.
A United Nations aid source confirmed that some UN personnel had departed the airport shortly before the attack and reported no casualties. The International Organization for Migration stated that its staff traveling through Aden were safe and accounted for after reports of the incident. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) also described a recent incident in which its aircraft prepared for takeoff from Aden airport was forced to seek shelter due to a nearby missile strike. The organization emphasized the airport’s critical role in facilitating humanitarian aid, supplies, and medical equipment to southern Yemen.
The attack occurred against the backdrop of intensified fighting between Ansar Allah and the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s government. This confrontation has opened a new and volatile front within the wider regional conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran. Last month, Ansar Allah forces advanced toward the strategically significant Bab Al Mandeb Strait, a key maritime chokepoint opposite the Strait of Hormuz. In response, government forces pushed to reclaim territory along the Red Sea coast, aiming to disrupt Ansar Allah’s control over the area, while the coalition increased airstrikes against group positions after a surge in Ansar Allah attacks against Saudi targets.
Meanwhile, Al Masirah TV, affiliated with Ansar Allah, reported that a Saudi airstrike killed 14 people and injured 15 others in Yemen’s northern Jawf region. The renewed conflict has effectively ended a 2022 United Nations-brokered truce that had largely paused major hostilities since the civil war erupted following Ansar Allah’s 2014 takeover of Sanaa. Humanitarian organizations warn that the latest escalation is worsening an already dire crisis in Yemen, which remains one of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies.