The Voice of Ummah: Yemen’s armed forces (Ansarullah) have struck al-Ma’ashiq Palace in the southern port city of Aden with missiles. A military source told the Yemeni News Agency Saba that the attack targeted a military operations headquarters inside al-Ma’ashiq Palace run by Saudi officers, along with associated weapons depots.
Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Thursday that the attack was part of a declared policy of targeting Saudi military deployments wherever they are stationed. According to Press TV, he said the strike on the military operations base in Aden came within the framework of the “declared equation” that any Saudi military presence, wherever it may be, is considered a legitimate target for Yemeni forces.
Ma’ashiq Palace strike: five dead, 16 injured
A source in the Aden-based government told Anadolu that five ballistic missiles were used in the attack and that several members of the government were inside the palace at the time. Health Minister Qassem Buhaibeh said five people were killed and 16 injured, all of them guards and civilian employees at the presidential complex. The Information Ministry said Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani and members of the government were safe. Video clips circulated on social media showed columns of smoke rising from inside the palace.
Anadolu said the attack was the first of its kind on the palace since fighting resumed in July. Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from Sanaa, also described the strikes on the government’s headquarters in Aden as the “first of their kind” by Ansarullah and said they indicated that the escalation between the two sides was set to intensify.
Rising tensions between Sanaa and Riyadh
Al Jazeera reported that the Aden attack came as fighting between Ansarullah and Saudi-backed forces intensified in Taiz province, control of which would give either side the upper hand over the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Saudi-led coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh had come under at least 20 attacks over the past 11 days, and the coalition says the attacks have killed 17 people and injured more than 300.
According to Press TV, the Sanaa government announced a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia on July 20, describing it as a response to “an unjust and oppressive siege” imposed on Yemen for nearly 12 years. Saudi Arabia and its allies imposed a blockade on Yemen in March 2015 and launched a sweeping military offensive backed by military, political and logistical support from the United States and several Western countries.
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