Yemen PM Says Airport Attack Aimed to 'Eliminate' Cabinet

Yemeni PM Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik is seen in this December 2018 file photo. (AP)
Yemeni PM Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik is seen in this December 2018 file photo. (AP)
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Yemen PM Says Airport Attack Aimed to 'Eliminate' Cabinet

Yemeni PM Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik is seen in this December 2018 file photo. (AP)
Yemeni PM Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik is seen in this December 2018 file photo. (AP)

Yemen’s prime minister on Saturday said that a missile attack on the airport in Aden was meant “to eliminate” the country's new government as it arrived in the key southern city — a daring assault which he blamed on the Iran-backed Houthi militias.

Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed spoke to The Associated Press in an interview conducted at his office in the Mashiq Palace in Aden. It was the leader's first interview with international media after he survived Wednesday’s attack that killed at least 25 people and wounded 110 others.

“It’s a major terrorist attack that was meant to eliminate the government,” the premier said. “It was a message against peace and stability in Yemen.”

Saeed repeated his government’s accusations that the Houthis were responsible for the missile attack on the airport and a drone assault on the palace, shortly after the premier and his Cabinet were transferred there.

The new Yemeni government was formed in December in line with the Riyadh Agreement.

Saeed said that the “techniques” used in the airport missile attack were hallmarks of the Houthis' strategy.

The Houthis have carried out similar attacks in the past. In 2015, former Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and members of his Cabinet survived a missile attack, blamed on the Houthis, that struck an Aden hotel used by the government. Last year, the Houthis fired a missile at a military parade of a militia loyal to the UAE at a base in Aden, killing dozens.

The attack took place moments after a plane carrying Saeed and his Cabinet members landed at the airport.

AP footage from the scene at Aden's airport showed members of the government delegation disembarking as the blast shook the tarmac, with many ministers rushing back inside the plane or running down the stairs, seeking shelter.

Saeed said three precision-guided missiles had struck the facility, targeting his plane, the arrival hall and the VIP lounge of the airport.

“The guidance accuracy was great. The operation was huge,” he said.

The prime minister said Yemeni investigators have collected the remains of the missiles and that experts from the Saudi-led coalition and the US would help determine the type and origins of the missiles.

Saeed and his newly formed Cabinet were returning to Yemen a week after they were sworn in before Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, where the embattled leader resides.

The Cabinet reshuffle was part of a power-sharing deal between the legitimate government and the Southern Transitional Council.

Saeed, the prime minister, said his government would prioritize “security and stability” in government-held areas after months of infighting between Hadi’s government and the STC.

“Whatever the challenges in Aden, the government remains,” he said.

He also pointed to “huge” economic challenges as being the focus of his government.

Aden’s airport is expected to reopened Sunday, Transportation Minister Abdel-Salam Hamied announced while visiting the facility.



Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas's armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.

Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The three-minute video released by Hamas's Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades shows one of the hostages, identified by media as 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

Bohbot, a Colombian-Israeli, was seen bound and injured in the face in video footage from the day of the Hamas attack. After a video of him was released last month, his family said they were "extremely concerned" about his health.

The second hostage, said to be Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew in the video, urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives -- a similar message to statements made by other hostages, likely under duress, in previous videos released by Hamas.

Bohbot and Ohana, both abducted by Palestinian gunmen from the site of a music festival, are among 58 hostages held in Gaza since the 2023 attack, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas also holds the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a 2014 war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the fate of three hostages presumed alive was unclear, without naming them.

"We know with certainty that 21 hostages are alive... and there are three others whose status, sadly, we do not know," Netanyahu said in a video shared on his Telegram channel.

Israel resumed its military offensive across the Gaza Strip on March 18, after a two-month truce that saw the release of dozens of hostages.

Since the ceasefire collapsed, Hamas has released several videos of hostages, including of the two appearing in Saturday's video.

Israel says the renewed offensive aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives, although critics charge that it puts them in mortal danger.

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 2,701 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,810.