Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Wednesday called on people to evacuate immediately from the international airport in Aden, the southern city where the internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government is based, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters via SRN News

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a post on X that the evacuation was due to what he said was the presence there of a Saudi military cargo aircraft carrying weapons. That is the Houthis' claim; there was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities.

Explosions were heard in Aden before the Houthi warning, residents in the city told Reuters. The airport, which the Houthi movement has struck repeatedly, is a humanitarian lifeline and a gateway to southern Yemen.

Fighting intensifies around a strategic strait

Fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's government has intensified in recent weeks, Reuters reported, as the Houthis pushed last month towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic shipping chokepoint. Government forces have staged an advance to retake territory seized by the Houthis on the Red Sea coast, and the coalition has intensified its strikes on Houthi targets in response to escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The renewed fighting has shattered a 2022 UN-brokered truce that had largely halted attacks. Aid agencies have warned of rapidly deteriorating conditions in Yemen, which has been in conflict since 2014 and is already suffering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.