Early on Tuesday, unknown assailants fired rocket propelled grenades in an Aden hotel that is housing Yemen's internationally recognized government, Reuters has reported. Government officials and residents have both confirmed that there were casualties in the attack, even as it emerged that the country's vice president was in the hotel at the time of the attack, but that he escaped unhurt.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one local official told a reporter that there were several "dead and wounded" people, according to France 24. The official, however, wasn't able to clarify whether the dead or wounded included any government officials.
Eye witnesses reported seeing one RPG (rocket propelled grenade) fired at the hotel's gate, followed by a second and a third that targeted the port city's district of Buraiqah. Civil defense forces as well as ambulances rushed to the scene, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising over the building. The hotel has been housing the fragile, but internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who had been forced into exile when Houthi rebels swept through vast areas of the country.
Last year, Houthi rebels captured Sanaa, Yemen's capital, forcing Hadi to escape to the southern port city of Aden, according to VOA News. The rebels continued to advance southwards and Aden also fell to their hands in March this year; President Hadi didn't have any option but to escape to Saudi Arabia. Consequently, Saudi Arabia and a coalition of other Gulf States immediately started bombing the rebels, and with the help of fighters royal to Hadi, the rebels were recently pushed out of Aden. Only then could Hadi and other government officials return to the city and start governing from the hotel that was targeted.
