Houthis call for immediate evacuation of Aden airport

Yemen’s Houthis on Wednesday called ​on people to evacuate immediately from ‌the international airport in Aden, where the internationally recognised, Saudi-backed ​government is based.

Houthi spokesperson ​Yahya Saree said in his ⁠post on X that ​the evacuation was due to ​what he said was the presence there of a Saudi military ​cargo aircraft carrying weapons. ​There was no immediate comment from Saudi ‌authorities.

The ⁠Houthi militia, which controls the capital Sanaa in the north, has repeatedly struck ​the airport, ​a ⁠humanitarian lifeline and gateway for southern Yemen.

Explosions ​were heard in Aden ​before ⁠the Houthi warning, residents in the city told Reuters.

Fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition supporting the government in Yemen has intensified in recent weeks as the Houthis pushed last month ​towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic shipping chokepoint which lies ​opposite the Strait of Hormuz on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.

The conflict ‌has ⁠become a new volatile front in the wider US-Israeli war on Iran.

Government forces staged an advance to retake territory seized by the Houthis on the Red Sea coast, potentially loosening the group’s grip on the ​strait, and the ​coalition intensified its ⁠strikes on Houthi targets in response to their escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The renewed fighting has shattered ​a 2022 UN-brokered truce which had largely halted ​attacks in ⁠the impoverished country mired in conflict since 2014, when the Houthis pushed the government south.

Aid agencies have warned of rapidly deteriorating conditions as a ⁠result. ​Yemen has already been suffering from one ​of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.