The Iranian-backed Houthi militia killed dozens of Yemeni soldiers in a strike on a desert camp in the middle of the country on Monday, officials said, in what appeared to be one of the deadliest attacks since their war resumed.
Col. Majed al-Nuzaili, a spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces, said in a statement on social media that the Houthis had fired three ballistic missiles at the Al Alam camp in Shabwa Province, hitting what he described as a training center for security and police recruits. He told the Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya that at least 47 had been killed and 53 others wounded.
Saba, a Houthi-run news agency, said the group had struck what it called Saudi “troop buildups” at the camp and made no mention of recruits. The Yemeni government and the Houthis, a rebel group from the country’s north, have been at war since 2014, when the militia seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which it still holds.
“The number of martyrs is very high and is expected to rise,” Fahd Al-Khulaifi, the deputy governor of Shabwa Province, said in a telephone interview. He said there were dozens of casualties, some of whom were being transferred to the government-held cities of Aden and Al Mukalla. The Saudi-led military coalition that is fighting the Houthis in Yemen has not commented on the strike.
Graphic footage published on social media and verified by The New York Times showed multiple bodies and blood on paved ground in Al Alam camp. At least 15 bodies can be seen as the camera pans, with clothes and sandals strewed around.
The scale of the attack underscored the rapidly intensifying war in Yemen, which erupted earlier this year after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, the Houthis’ main patron.
In recent weeks, forces affiliated with the Yemeni government have attempted to retake strategic territory on the country’s Red Sea coast that the Houthis seized in a lightning offensive last month.
As the fighting has ground on, the Houthis have demonstrated their ability to hold out against the government’s forces, which Saudi warplanes have supported, and the militia has launched offensive strikes deep within government-held regions. On Friday, the Houthis struck the Yemeni government’s headquarters in Aden, killing five staff and security officers.
The conflict has also increasingly spilled onto Saudi soil, as the Houthis have attacked infrastructure and oil facilities in the kingdom. Frequent attacks on an airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, have killed at least 17 people and injured more than 330 others since the beginning of this month, according to the Saudi authorities.
Saudi Arabia further restricted flights to and from its main airport in Riyadh this weekend, saying that no flights would be allowed to arrive or depart without explicit permission. The change was made in an official notice that took effect on Saturday night local time, with no end date.
Rashad al-Alimi, who leads Yemen’s internationally recognized government, the Presidential Leadership Council, promised a “decisive response” to the attack on Monday, saying the deaths would not stop the government from protecting citizens and rebuilding state institutions. His comments were reported by the Saba news agency.
The Houthis’ long conflict with the Yemeni government and its allies previously came to a cease-fire in 2022 but tensions resurfaced this year over the summer after the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out an airstrike on Sanaa’s airport and retaliated by imposing a blockade on Saudi maritime traffic.
Shuaib Almosawa contributed reporting from Sanaa, Yemen, Niraj Chokshi from New York, and Sanjana Varghese from London.
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