Yemen Says Prime Minister Unharmed After Houthi Attack on Iran-Backed Palace

A Yemeni minister said two Houthi missiles hit the Presidential Palace in Mashiq in Aden. Saudi Arabia has said Iran is fueling escalation of the conflict in the country.

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A Yemeni minister said that two Houthi missiles hit the Meshikh presidential palace in Aden. Saudi Arabia has said that Iran is fueling the escalation of the conflict in this country.

Report from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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Iran-backed Houthi militias fired missiles at Yemen's government headquarters on Thursday, officials said, as Saudi Arabia accused Iran of fueling the escalation of the war in the country.

Prime Minister Shia al-Zandani said in a statement that the Houthis had attacked the Mashiq Palace in Aden, although it was not clear whether he was present at the time. According to Muammar al-Ariani, the Minister of Information of Yemen, Mr. Al-Zandani was not injured, but two of his security forces were killed.

Videos shared on social media on Thursday showed smoke rising from near the presidential palace in Aden. The extent of the damage to the structures on the palace grounds is not clear in the footage, but smoke can be seen from a mile away.

Aden has served as the seat of Yemen's internationally recognized government since 2015. The Houthis seized the country's capital, Sana'a, and forced the government into exile. The Yemeni government, which is controlled by the eight-member Presidential Leadership Council, has been operating from Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, for years.

In recent weeks, Saudi warplanes have been providing air support to government forces fighting the Houthis in an effort to recapture strategic territory in the Red Sea.

Yahya Saree, the military spokesman of the militias, said in a statement on social networks that the group targeted the "military operations headquarters of the Saudi enemy in Aden."

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