Houthi Attack Near Aden Airport Diverts Passenger Flight From Cairo
Yemenia flight 603 was diverted to Jeddah after a missile landed near Aden's runway, Yemen's Transport Ministry said. No immediate casualties were reported.
A passenger flight from Cairo was diverted to Jeddah before dawn on 7 October after a missile landed near the runway at Aden International Airport, according to Yemen's Transport Ministry. The ministry accused the Houthis of attacking the airport with two ballistic missiles and explosive drones.
The Houthis gave a different account of their intended target, saying they attacked Saudi military supplies at Badr camp near the airport. No immediate casualties were reported. The scale of damage and the precise intended target had not been independently established.
An approaching flight was redirected
The ministry said the missile landed shortly before Yemenia Airways flight 603 was due to arrive from Cairo. Authorities cancelled the landing and redirected the aircraft to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. The diversion is the clearest immediate consequence for civilian aviation reported from the incident.
Passengers and staff were evacuated from the terminal, and two aircraft were moved away from the threatened area, the ministry said. Its statement was carried by Yemen's official Saba agency. Reuters also reported the attack and the widening fighting in Yemen.
Aviation publication Airways described the sequence of the approaching flight, the reported impact near the runway and the subsequent diversion. Its account also attributed the operational details to the ministry, rather than presenting them as independently collected flight or damage data.
Airport and military camp accounts differ
The government described the runway and passenger terminal as targets. The Houthis instead identified supplies at Badr camp. The proximity of the camp and airport is central to those competing accounts: a claim to have targeted military supplies does not erase the reported disruption to an arriving passenger aircraft.
The ministry's account included both ballistic missiles and drones carrying explosives. The reports did not provide a complete independently verified inventory of impacts or damage. Authorities' immediate response focused on clearing people and aircraft from exposed areas.
Aden is a major air gateway for parts of Yemen outside Houthi control. The incident therefore affected an airport serving territory administered by the internationally recognised government, as fighting with the Houthis intensified elsewhere in the country.
A new consequence of the renewed fighting
The attack followed the government offensive backed by Saudi coalition support that Israel News Pulse previously covered. That campaign concerned efforts to regain territory, including areas connected with the Red Sea coast and Bab al Mandab. Wednesday's airport incident adds a separate consequence for transport and passenger safety.
It should also be separated from Houthi claims involving airports in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi coalition reported interceptions, but those statements did not establish that Riyadh's airport had been hit or disabled. Combining the claims would obscure what was specifically reported in Aden.
The next confirmed diplomatic date is the UN Security Council's closed consultations on Yemen on 9 October. That meeting has its own scheduled time and does not establish an operational response to the airport attack. For the Cairo passengers, the immediate outcome reported by the ministry was a changed destination, with the aircraft directed away from Aden.
