Houthis target Yemen’s presidential palace in Aden with missiles

Saudi-led coalition accuses Houthis of obtaining missile parts from regional states.Yemen’s Houthis have hit the vicinity of the al-Maashiq presidential palace in the port city of Aden with multiple missiles.The Yemeni Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said in a social media post on Thursday that Houthis had targeted the al-Maashiq presidential palace with five missiles.The government says the prime minister and other officials are safe, but two of his bodyguards were killed in the attack.Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the vicinity of the palace.Al Jazeera correspondents reported earlier on Thursday that there were explosions near the palace.The palace is considered the headquarters and the seat of power for the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government.Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, said the attacks on the headquarters of the internationally recognised government are the “first of their kind” by the Houthis.“This is an indication that the escalation is going to intensify between both sides,” Mawry said, adding that fears are now growing inside the country of “an all-out civil war” that could potentially drag in other regional powers besides Saudi Arabia.The attack in Aden came as fighting between the Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for Supporters of God), and Saudi-backed forces intensified in Taiz, which is effectively under siege by the Houthis.Controlling Taiz, Yemen’s third city and the broader Taiz governorate, in the southwest of the country would ensure control over the critical Bab al-Mandeb strait for either side.