Houthis push to within 80km of Aden as missile on Lahj health centre kills five, including three medics
Houthi fighters are battling for a camp on the road to Aden, their closest approach since 2015, as a missile on a Lahj clinic killed five and wounded 15.
At a glance
- Houthi forces have advanced to within about 80km of Aden, the seat of Yemen's internationally recognised government, according to military sources; it is their closest approach since 2015.
- Fighting on Monday, November 2, centred on a military camp at the entrance to Tur al-Bahah district in Lahj province, on one of the main roads into Aden.
- Yemen's health ministry said a missile hit the al-Saqiya health centre in Lahj's al-Mudharaba district, killing five people, three of them medical staff, and wounding 15. It blamed the Houthis, who did not comment.
- Taiz, Yemen's third city, has been cut off from the south since early October; the European Union has called for a humanitarian corridor into it.
Houthi fighters have pushed to within about 80km of Aden, the southern port city where Yemen's internationally recognised government is based, and on Monday they were fighting for a military camp that guards one of the main roads into it. It is the closest the group has come to Aden since the first months of the war in 2015, when its forces briefly entered the city before being driven out.
The same day, a missile struck a health centre in Lahj province, the region the Houthis are advancing through. Yemen's health ministry said five people were killed, three of them members of the medical team, and 15 were wounded.
The fight for the road to Aden
According to military sources, the fighting on Monday, November 2, centred on a camp at the entrance to Tur al-Bahah district in Lahj. The camp lies about 50km from the provincial capital and roughly 80km from Aden itself. Taking it would open a route towards the city and let the Houthis try to get around government forces holding the mountains that overlook the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow entrance to the Red Sea used by a large share of the world's shipping.
The sources said the Houthis had attacked government positions in the neighbouring al-Maqatirah district three days earlier. Some accounts say the whole district has since fallen, but that has not been independently confirmed, and the government has not publicly described its losses.
The ground push follows weeks of missile and drone attacks on Aden itself. The Houthis struck the city's airport last Wednesday after telling people to leave the area, and the presidential palace was hit in October.
Five dead at al-Saqiya health centre
The health ministry said the missile hit the al-Saqiya health centre in al-Mudharaba district and described the toll as preliminary. Three of the dead were staff working at the clinic. The ministry blamed the Houthis, who did not comment. Prime Minister Shaea Mohsen al-Zindani called the attack on a medical facility a crime and a breach of international humanitarian law.
Health centres like this one are often the only place people in rural Lahj can get basic care, from vaccinations to treatment for wounds. Losing staff as well as the building leaves surrounding villages with nowhere close to go.
How the front has moved since September
| When (2026) | Where | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| September | Red Sea coast | Houthis seize strategic coastal territory; fighting escalates sharply |
| Early October | Taiz | Main road south to Aden cut; city encircled |
| October | Aden | Presidential palace hit |
| Wednesday, October 28 | Aden | Airport struck after Houthi evacuation warning |
| October 30 | al-Maqatirah, Lahj | Houthi assault on government positions begins |
| Monday, November 2 | Tur al-Bahah, Lahj | Fighting for camp about 80km from Aden; Lahj health centre hit |
Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, has been surrounded since the Houthis cut its road to the south in early October. The European Union's foreign policy chief has called the siege a heinous act, urged the Houthis to stop their offensive and their attacks on Saudi Arabia, and called for a humanitarian corridor into the city.
A separate attack on a market in Taiz province on Monday killed at least eight people, according to medical sources and local officials. Who fired on it is disputed: government-side accounts and the Houthi-run authorities each blame the other.
Saudi Arabia drawn deeper in
The Saudi-led coalition backing the government has stepped up air strikes on Houthi positions as the group has fired more missiles and drones at Saudi cities. Saudi civil defence issued alerts in several southern and western cities in recent days before saying the threat had passed. The Houthis are aligned with Iran, and the fighting in Yemen has grown alongside the wider confrontation between Washington and Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz.
For Pakistan and the Gulf, the risk is felt mostly through shipping and flights. Any Houthi foothold closer to Bab el-Mandeb raises the threat to vessels heading to and from the Suez Canal, which feeds into freight and insurance costs, while repeated attacks on Saudi Arabia have already disrupted flights used by millions of South Asian workers and pilgrims.
What to watch
The battle for the Tur al-Bahah camp is the next marker: if it falls, the Houthis will be closer to Aden than at any time in more than a decade. Government forces are expected to try to hold the line with coalition air support, and the health ministry is due to issue a final count for the Lahj clinic attack.
