Aden airport attack: reports diverge on Cairo flight

The Aden airport attack in southern Yemen early Wednesday produced competing accounts of both the target and a Cairo passenger flight. Yemen’s Transport Ministry said missiles and drones struck the runway and terminal and the incoming flight was diverted to Jeddah; Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group targeted Saudi military supplies at a camp near the airport. AP cited flight-tracking data that places Yemenia Flight 603 landing in Aden, leaving the route account unresolved.

What is confirmed

According to AP, a journalist heard explosions around 2 a.m. in Aden on Wednesday (7 p.m. EDT Tuesday), within the 24-hour reporting window. Aden security authorities told AP that two missiles targeted the airport and said no casualties were reported. The reporter’s account establishes that explosions were heard in the city; it does not establish the exact impact point or intended target.

The Transport Ministry said at least two ballistic missiles and several drones targeted the runway and passenger terminal. It said one missile landed near the runway minutes before a flight from Cairo was scheduled to arrive. The ministry said the flight was redirected to Jeddah and two other aircraft were moved away from the runway. Al Jazeera reported the ministry’s statement; Reuters and AFP also attributed the airport account to Yemeni government sources.

The flight detail remains unresolved. AP’s report separately cited FlightAware as recording Yemenia Flight 603 landing in Aden at 3:30 a.m. The reports reviewed do not establish whether Flight 603 was the same Cairo flight the ministry said it diverted. No source read for this article reconciled the two accounts.

A separate missile exchange was reported near Riyadh. Houthi spokesman Saree claimed the group targeted King Khalid International Airport with a missile and disrupted air traffic. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile north of the capital. The accounts read do not independently confirm an impact at King Khalid airport.

What the parties said

Yemen’s Transport Ministry described the Aden airport attack as a strike on the runway and passenger terminal. “One of the missiles landed near the runway minutes before the Yemeni flight from Cairo was to land,” the ministry said, according to Al Jazeera. The ministry said authorities diverted the flight to Jeddah and moved aircraft away from the runway. Those are government statements; the flight’s route remains unverified in the coverage reviewed.

The Houthis presented a different target description. Saree said the group targeted “Saudi military supplies” arriving at Badr Camp near the airport with ballistic missiles, Al Jazeera reported. AP also reported Saree’s claim that a military camp near Aden airport was the target. Neither account independently establishes where the missiles landed or what they struck.

On the Riyadh claim, Saree said a Houthi missile targeted King Khalid airport, while the Saudi-led coalition said its forces intercepted a missile north of the city. The coalition did not identify an airport as the target in the statement reported. Both accounts remain claims by parties to the war, not independent findings.

How the coverage splits

Reuters’ dispatch, republished by Yahoo News, calls the Houthis “Iran-aligned” and the government “Saudi-backed.” Its headline leads with the Aden airport attack and places it inside a broader account of fighting between the two sides. Reuters foregrounds the ministry’s missile-and-drone report, the Cairo-flight diversion and the coalition’s Riyadh interception, then turns to the west-coast front and shipping route. Its dispatch said the Houthis had not immediately commented on Aden; that version does not include AP’s FlightAware landing record. Reuters is not a party to the conflict.

The Associated Press report republished by NBC News labels the group “Iran-backed Houthi rebels” and describes Aden as the seat of the internationally recognized government. Its headline foregrounds the Houthis’ claimed attacks on Saudi Arabia and Aden; the report opens with the Riyadh claim, then gives the Aden explosions, local security officials’ no-casualty statement and FlightAware’s landing entry. It does not independently verify the intended target or the Riyadh airport claim. AP and NBC News are not parties to the conflict.

AFP’s report published by France 24 uses “Iran-backed Houthis” and “government forces supported by the kingdom.” Its headline leads with Houthi claims against Saudi airports; the Aden account appears later as a claim about military supplies near the airport, alongside Saba’s report and the ministry’s diversion account. AFP says battlefield claims were difficult to verify and also reports separate west-front clashes, citing military sources from both camps for a toll of at least 62 combatants, including 37 Houthis. It omits AP’s flight-tracking detail. AFP and France 24 are not parties to the war.

The record so far

The reporting supports a narrow record: an AP journalist heard explosions in Aden early Wednesday; government officials described missiles and drones at the airport; the Houthis said they targeted military supplies at nearby Badr Camp; and Aden security authorities reported no casualties. The airport’s precise impact point and the passenger flight’s route remain unresolved. Near Riyadh, the coalition’s interception account and the Houthi claim about King Khalid airport remain separate, unverified statements.

This is distinct from the earlier reports of Houthi claims involving Saudi airports. GenZ NewZ’s Oct. 6 account of Saudi airport attacks covered claims concerning Riyadh, Abha and Khamis Mushait, alongside reported damage and injuries in Jazan and Najran. The Oct. 7 reports instead center on Aden in Yemen and a disputed flight record. GenZ NewZ’s earlier report on the Mokha control claims dealt with competing descriptions of the west-coast ground advance, not the airport’s impact point.

The sources leave three details separate: the ministry’s description of damage near a civilian runway, the Houthis’ stated military objective, and AP’s reported flight-tracking entry. No source reviewed independently verifies the exact impact site, an airport casualty total or whether the ministry and FlightAware accounts refer to the same plane. The Aden airport attack remains a contested account rather than a settled reconstruction.