Houthis strike Aden airport as Yemen fighting sharply escalates

Yemen's Iran aligned Houthis attacked Aden International Airport with ballistic missiles and explosive laden drones early Wednesday, according to Yemen's Transport Ministry. No casualties were reported. One missile landed near the runway minutes before a flight from Cairo was due to land; authorities cancelled the landing, diverted the aircraft to Jeddah, and moved two planes already on the runway away from the area. Aden's airport is the main international gateway for the parts of Yemen outside Houthi control.

The Aden strike is part of a rapid escalation across the region. On Tuesday, Houthi attacks damaged two airports in southern Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Jazan and Najran International Airport, wounding three people, according to Saudi aviation authorities. The Saudi led coalition said it intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile north of Riyadh and another aimed at Khamis Mushait. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed drone strikes on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport; there was no Saudi confirmation.

The trigger is a Saudi backed Yemeni government counteroffensive launched this week to retake the Red Sea coast around the Bab el Mandeb Strait and the city of Mocha, after weeks of Houthi advances along the coast. Yemen's government says the offensive has pushed the Houthis out of territory they seized last month. The Houthis have warned international airlines to avoid Saudi airspace except over the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency has warned airlines of a growing risk that civil aircraft could be misidentified amid the missile and air defense activity.

Yemen's war is now in its twelfth year and has produced one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. What is new is the tempo: airports hit on consecutive days, missiles aimed at Riyadh, and the Bab el Mandeb, a chokepoint for a significant share of the world's energy shipments, back at the center of a shooting war. The Wall Street Journal calls Yemen the most active battlefield in the wider confrontation with Iran. The Strait of Hormuz is not the only waterway that matters this week.