Two missiles struck the airport in Yemen’s port city of Aden on Friday night, police said, blaming Iran-backed Houthi rebels for the second such attack on the airport in less than 10 days.

Police said no casualties were reported as fighting escalates in the latest front in the Iran war, one in which the rebels have attacked both neighboring Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is backed by the kingdom.

It was the second major attack in Aden in two days. The Houthis on Thursday killed at least five people in a strike on a palace complex in Aden, the seat of the government.

An unnamed military official with the rebels told the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency that the group hit a military facility adjacent to the airport that houses a command center for the Saudi-led forces fighting the rebels, as well as a weapons depot there.

The Houthis previously targeted the airport with two missiles on Oct. 7, with no casualties, officials said.

This time, the Yemen government’s information minister said the missiles fell about 500 meters (yards) away from an airplane operated by Yemenia Airways as it was preparing to take off. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said its passengers were quickly evacuated.

Yemen’s transport ministry called the attack part of a “systematic Houthi escalation targeting vital facilities and state assets” and said the rebels are determined to endanger civilians.

Source: AP