Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi’s interim capital Aden was struck recently by a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis militia against the Al-Maashiq Presidential Palace. At least five people were killed and 16 others injured in the attack.

The government source said that the attack was made using five ballistic missiles. When the bombardment took place, the prime minister, Shayyakh al-Zindani, as well as a number of high-ranking cabinet members, were inside the palace complex.

Yemen’s Health Minister states that most of the victims were civilians and staff of the facility. Minister said in a post on Facebook, US social media platform that this assault is as grave as the attack which led to the deaths of Yemeni government in Aden airport in December 2020.

The Ministry of Information later said the Prime Minister and his Cabinet are unhurt in the attack. The government will have a firm stance and continue to fulfil its public responsibilities, officials said.

After the strike, a video of the smoke billowing from the Presidential Complex was captured on social media. Another TV network affiliated with the Houthis said it had confirmed the palace was deliberately targeted from an unnamed military source.

Other reports said Houthi forces simultaneously fired ballistic rockets at houses in the residential districts of the city of Marib and shelled civilian homes around the palace district in Aden.

The bombardment is the biggest of its kind to hit the palace since the resumption of active combat in July. Violence has resurged after a truce, mediated by the UN, broke down in 2022.

Since 2014, Yemen has been engaged in a prolonged conflict since Houthis seizes the country’s capital Sanaa. This led to the international recognised government being forced into exile. A Saudi-led coalition intervened to aid the ousted government in 2015 and a long regional war has broken out that is now intensifying.