‘Need a Plan B’: Yemenis in Aden prepare for another war as missiles fall
News Source
•Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:26:00 +0000
📰 What Happened
Yemen's Houthis have claimed missile and drone attacks on multiple locations in Aden over the past month, including the international airport, military camps, the port and the presidential palace used as a base by the government. Residents describe stockpiling sugar and staples, preparing cars and fuel, and mapping exit routes to Shabwa or Hadramout, while repeated strikes near the airport have disrupted flights and kept children out of school.
🔍 The Backstory
Aden had been relatively calm for four years and absorbed thousands of people displaced by fighting elsewhere. That changed after early September, when the Houthis launched an offensive in the west and within a week took districts in Hodeidah and Taiz including the port city of Mocha and the Bab al-Mandeb strait; a government counteroffensive from early October has made only limited gains while the siege of Taiz has tightened.
🎯 Why It Matters
If Aden becomes a front line, Yemen's interim capital and its main functioning airport and port would be at risk, with knock-on effects on food imports and prices across the south. The attacks also erode the government's claim to provide security and deepen the fragmentation that has defined Yemen's war since 2015.
Yemen's Houthis have claimed missile and drone attacks on multiple locations in Aden over the past month, including the international airport, military camps, the port and the presidential palace used as a base by the government. Residents describe stockpiling sugar and staples, preparing cars and fuel, and mapping exit routes to Shabwa or Hadramout, while repeated strikes near the airport have disrupted flights and kept children out of school.
Aden had been relatively calm for four years and absorbed thousands of people displaced by fighting elsewhere. That changed after early September, when the Houthis launched an offensive in the west and within a week took districts in Hodeidah and Taiz including the port city of Mocha and the Bab al-Mandeb strait; a government counteroffensive from early October has made only limited gains while the siege of Taiz has tightened.
If Aden becomes a front line, Yemen's interim capital and its main functioning airport and port would be at risk, with knock-on effects on food imports and prices across the south. The attacks also erode the government's claim to provide security and deepen the fragmentation that has defined Yemen's war since 2015.